Al-Futtaim Trading Group signs important strategic agreement with Tivoli Systems

Dubai, UAE
Al-Futtaim plans to roll out a process-oriented systems management environment based on Tivoli Enterprise across a huge network of PCs and mission-critical UNIX/NT application servers, supporting more than 8,000 employees. This agreement calls for the company's IT organisation, to become a Tivoli Service Provider on a longer term. Tivoli will help with getting the IT staff Tivoli certified as Tivoli consultants, making Al-Futtaim the leading provider of Tivoli Enterprise consulting expertise in the region.

Commenting on the strategic nature of this agreement with Tivoli, Mr. Ron Huisman, Chief Executive Officer of Al-Futtaim Trading said, "We found that Tivoli was the only truly integrated end to end enterprise solution in the market and that Tivoli will give the Al-Futtaim Group a better return of investment than other systems management solutions explored. We also value the local support and consultancy that the combined Tivoli, IBM and GBM resources can provide us."

Tivoli Enterprise provides a seamless, fully integrated and flexible systems management solution that keeps pace with change across all operating platforms and developments in the IT industry. Tivoli will enable Al-Futtaim to make the most out of its existing IT infrastructure while providing a world class operational service to the business.

"A platform, database and middleware-independent system was a decisive factor for us in the selection of Tivoli over other solutions. By choosing Tivoli we also protected our future interests." Mr Huisman added.

Tivoli Systems is owned by IBM and forms a very important part of the IBM software solutions roadmap.

Mr Farid Metwaly, General Manager, IBM Middle East, Egypt and Pakistan, said, "This multi-faceted partnership with a company such as Al-Futtaim underscores the growing importance of a comprehensive, business needs-driven approach to systems management. Al-Futtaim's long term commitment to Tivoli Enterprise demonstrates a high level of confidence in proven Tivoli technology. In addition, the collective strengths of our services partnership should inspire further confidence in our future customers."

Tivoli Enterprise will become a key component of Al-Futtaim's developing IS infrastructure, managing its most critical business systems. Al-Futtaim will soon begin rolling out a new version of their SAP solution. The performance and availability of the SAP servers is critical to Al-Futtaim. Tivoli Enterprise will provide monitoring, security, user administration, software distribution, asset inventory and other critical services to this and over several other applications within Al-Futtaim.

After the implementation of Tivoli Enterprise, Al-Futtaim will be able to redeploy IT staff to focus on core business activities and growth instead of drawing attention for maintenance and upgrades.

Mr Jesper Dyhr, Tivoli Manager for Middle East & Africa, said, "Al-Futtaim's decision to choose Tivoli once again demonstrates the unique ability of Tivoli Enterprise to deliver management solutions for large-scale, mixed computing environments across desktop, OS/2, NT, UNIX and mainframe platforms. Tivoli Enterprise is now a strategic part of Al-Futtaim's IT strategy and will provide the flexibility to allow Al Futtaim to build on its investment in
existing technology."

-end-


About Al-Futtaim Trading
The Al-Futtaim Trading Group was established in the 1930's, operating essentially as a trading enterprise. Pearls, textiles, foodstuffs and timber formed the foundation of Al-Futtaim's initial trading enterprise.

Today, the Al-Futtaim Trading Group of Companies is one of the largest and most successful privately owned business houses in the lower Gulf region. A workforce numbering upwards of 8,000, is drawn from over twenty nations and covers areas which including automobiles, electronics, insurance, civil engineering, computers, furnishings, hardware, advertising, construction, real estate, property development, light and heavy engineering, ship repair and steel fabrication.

About Tivoli Systems
Tivoli Systems Inc. provides the industry's leading open, highly scalable and cross-platform IT management solutions that span networks, systems, applications and business-to-business e-commerce. Leading companies around the world use Tivoli software and Tivoli Ready™ products to reduce the cost and complexity of managing networks, systems, databases and applications. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Tivoli is an IBM company (NYSE: IBM). Tivoli distributes its products world-wide through a network of global sales offices, systems integrators, resellers and IBM sales channels. For more information, visit www.tivoli.com.

About IBM
IBM is the world's largest information technology company, with 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. The fastest way to get more information about IBM is through the IBM home page at http://www.ibm.com.