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Kyobo Outsources IT to IBM

Alocal-market-oriented company with an IT infrastructure designed and operated by a local business cannot support global expansion, which is why Seoul, Korea-based Kyobo Life Insurance ($35.5 billion in total assets) has signed a 10-year IT services outsourcing agreement with IBM (Armonk, N.Y.) worth $340 million.

Alocal-market-oriented company with an IT infrastructure designed and operated by a local business cannot support global expansion, which is why Seoul, Korea-based Kyobo Life Insurance ($35.5 billion in total assets) has signed a 10-year IT services outsourcing agreement with IBM (Armonk, N.Y.) worth $340 million. "We decided to enhance our IT capabilities to support our business vision for the next decade," says Joo-Hyun Hwang, chief information and technology officer at Kyobo Life Insurance.

Chosen from five local and international competitors in March 2006, IBM began in April to manage Kyobo's IBM Unix and HP NT servers, storage systems, and network and desktop computers; provide IT strategy consulting services; and use IBM Remote Copy to update Kyobo's off-site disaster-recovery centers, which use tapes to maintain replicated data.

IBM also will implement a shared management infrastructure for automated system operations and efficient help desk operations, implement an asset management system, enhance Kyobo's network management system, and implement IBM's Business Service Management solution for end-to-end business service-level management. The infrastructure will then be able to "quickly scale up or down in response to changing market conditions," said Hwi-Sung Lee, general manager, IBM Korea, in a statement.

Additionally, IBM will provide IT skills development and IT management training services to Kyobo Life employees to help support IT planning and management. Hwang also hopes to take advantage of IBM's consulting services to learn how to improve the quality and flexibility of the carrier's IT infrastructure.

Under IBM's on-demand pricing model, Kyobo Life will be charged fees based on actual computer usage, so the company expects to eventually save 15 to 20 percent on operating costs, according to Hwang. But he stresses that "the most important factor we are focusing on in the transition is making sure there is no impact on customers and partners." -- M.W.

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