IBM and BES Sign New Outsourcing Contract: Financial News

Seven-Year Contract for IBM to Manage the Entire "Midrange" Infrastructure for Leading Portuguese Financial Group

LISBON, PORTUGAL--(MARKET WIRE)--Jul 18, 2008 -- Banco Espírito Santo (BES), one of the major multi-specialist financial groups in Portugal and IBM (NYSE:IBM - News), today announced a seven-year outsourcing services agreement for IBM to manage the bank's information technology (IT) infrastructure.

The agreement, signed in June 2008, expands the scope of a previous contract signed in 2006.

As part of the agreement, IBM will manage the entire BES server infrastructure in Portugal including administration, management and operation of the midrange infrastructure which is comprised of Intel and Unix servers as well as all the associated storage.

The agreement includes an infrastructure transformation and optimization program, with hardware standardization, consolidation and virtualization projects, as well as business continuity and resiliency services.

This agreement is part of BES' IT strategy, launched in 2006, to improve IT efficiency, as well as management processes, elevating service quality and assuring products and processes innovation.

"We are confident in IBM's ability to deliver and manage our infrastructure services, which was already proven during the previous two year contract signed in 2006," said Miguel Rio Tinto, President of Espírito Santo Informática. "In addition, the quality and the competitiveness of the new offerings led us to select IBM again as a long term business partner."

António Raposo de Lima, IBM Portugal director, Global Technology Services, stated, "This contract confirms IBM's ability to respond to demanding performance levels in a market where the competitiveness and innovation are crucial factors for the consolidation of financial institutions."

About IBM

For more information, visit www.ibm.com/services.

About Banco Espírito Santo

BES is the second private financial institution. With a medium share of 20,4% in the Portuguese bank market, BES registers 1,7 million clients. Retail, Private Banking, Active Management, Companies and Investment Bank are strategic business areas, followed by international expansion (Spain, Angola and Brazil).