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Global consumer product company Colgate-Palmolive has selected
IBM as its strategic infrastructure provider, giving some of the
world's most familiar brands a robust e-business boost.
Initial deployments of IBM eServer pSeries, "Shark" TotalStorage
Enterprise Storage Servers and Tivoli management software have already
resulted in a 40 percent performance improvement and added reliability.
When complete next year, the IBM infrastructure, including a Shark-based
SAN (storage area network) will undergird Colgate's SAP-based global
business programs - used to manage the company's 51-nation
business operations. Those activities produce 90 percent of Colgate's
revenue. The company considered other major competitors for its
storage network needs, but was sold on IBM by a trial Shark installation.
Interest in IBM servers and software developed subsequently.
This isn't the first interweaving of IBM and SAP technology: we
recently signed a similar deal with Nestlé to support the
world's largest SAP implementation there. SAP has evolved and benefited
by switching from a proprietary approach toward an open standards
business model similar to our own, to our mutual benefit.
Colgate will also standardise on IBM notebooks and desktop PCs
for its 5,000-unit annual intake. It will boost efficiency with
IBM ImageUltra technology, which can install a single "super-image"
on all new IBM PCs, saving an estimated $100 per year on per-unit
maintenance. This exclusive process eliminates the need for costly,
time-consuming upgrades and fixes.
As part of our strategic partnership with Colgate, we will also
upgrade one of its most innovative operational tools - its
business warehouse - a large-scale system that allows managers
to access vital information from around the world such as the price
of raw materials in dozens of markets. Ultimately, the system -
running on IBM eServer and Enterprise Storage Servers - will
handle 50 terabytes of business data.
Colgate-Palmolive will further enhance its data protection and
disaster recovery capabilities with a mirrored IBM data center that
will automatically copy information between servers in its primary
and secondary technology centers using IBM's Peer to Peer Remote
Copy (PPRC) software technology. This nearly instantaneous data
backup will help ensure that information is available to Colgate-Palmolive
and its SAP users in the event of an unplanned business disruption.
Colgate-Palmolive relies on Notes and Domino to provide e-mail
and business applications for its 20,000 worldwide employees: the
company will expand its collaborative infrastructure by adding Lotus
Sametime for instant messaging and online meetings both internally
and on an extranet for Business Partners. In addition, QuickPlace
is also in the plan in order to provide a self-service Web tool
for team collaboration.
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