IBM and Manulife Sign Service Agreement Expansion

IBM has announced an expansion and extension of its current service agreement to manage Manulife Financial’s information technology operations.

The current agreement, which remains in effect until March 31, 2012, includes services for mainframe, midrange and desktop computers, as well as helpdesk support, business continuity and disaster recovery. The value of the expanded agreement to March 31, 2012 was not released.

The expanded scope includes a new server virtualization solution for Intel and Unix to improve server utilization, and generate savings through reduced costs in equipment, software, facilities and energy consumption. The agreement also establishes a new IBM global delivery model to provide technology services for Manulife, and support for Manulife’s implementation of global IT Service Management standards.

The agreement allows for ongoing cooperation in technology innovation and introduces a newly established relationship with IBM Research to explore first-of-a-kind financial service solutions. IBM Research will collaborate with Manulife to identify, develop and implement these projects, using IBM’s global research teams.