IBM Doubles Value of ‘Power Rewards’ Migration Services to Entice Even More Sun SPARC Customers to Switch to IBM Systems

Builds on Mass Migrations to Power Systems with IBM Gaining 4 Points of Share in 1Q09; 14 points since 2000

ARMONK, N.Y., April 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Building on strong demand, with 35 percent revenue growth for IBM’s high-end Power Systems in 1Q09, and to expand migrations already under way, IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced it is doubling the dollar amount for its Power Rewards migration services for customers switching from Sun SPARC, UltraSPARC or SPARC64 processor-based servers to IBM Power Systems(TM).

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The IBM Power Rewards(1) program offers money for migration services or software to customers that switch from competitive systems to IBM. Customers can use the migration services to move workloads running on Sun SPARC-based servers to IBM’s AIX, Linux, or i operating environments.

IBM has increased the dollar amount for migration services from $4,000 to $8,000 based on the number of SPARC, UltraSPARC or SPARC64 microprocessors used in each Sun or Fujitsu server. For example, a Sun customer using a Sun Fire V890 system with eight microprocessors (or “cores”) would now receive $64,000 in migration services, up from $32,000, to move the workloads to an IBM Power system.

By switching to IBM Power Systems, SPARC customers will receive 2X-4X more processing speed per core, which helps them control the cost of management, software, and energy.(2)

Making the Move to IBM

Through the first quarter of this year alone, the Power Systems Migration Factory turned out 62 competitive wins, including 28 from Sun. Overall IBM has helped 1,640 customers migrate from Sun, HP and other platforms to IBM over the past three years. Nearly half of those migrations have been from Sun platforms to IBM Power Systems.

Competitive migrations like these have earned IBM the title of worldwide leader in UNIX revenue.(3) According to IDC, in 2008, IBM had 37.2% revenue share, up 3.4 points year-to-year. Sun had 28.1% revenue share, declining 2.6 points. In fact, IBM is the only major UNIX vendor to gain revenue share in the past five years (+10.8 points) while Sun (-1.9 points) and HP (-5.4 points) lost share.

A wide range of additional discounts on hardware, software or services are available and a reward points table is published for accumulating and redeeming Power Rewards.

About IBM

For more information about IBM Power Systems, please visit http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/power/.

IBM is a trademark of IBM Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other company/product names and service marks may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries licensed exclusively through The Open Group. Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvald.

(1) IBM Power Rewards offers 8,000 points per core for Sun or Fujitsu SPARC, UltraSPARC, and SPARC64 workload migrations, 4,000 points per core for Itanium(R) workload migrations, 1000 points per core for Alpha or MIPS workload migrations and 500 points per core for Sun x64, Dell PowerEdge, or HP ProLiant workload migration up to a maximum determined by the type and price of the qualifying Power Systems purchased as the target of the migration. Each 15,000 points can be redeemed for 40 hours of IBM migration services from IBM or a qualified IBM Business Partner. Points can also be applied to PowerCare services and other qualifying IBM offerings as outlined here: www.ibm.com/systems/migratetoibm/systems/power/rewards.html

(2) For information about comparative performance of Sun SPARC and IBM Power systems, go to Move Up to IBM Power Systems, Dare to Compare, Performance Web page at http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/migratetoibm/systems/power/performance.html

(3) IDC Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker, November 2008.

    Contact:     Ron Favali
                 IBM
                 favali@us.ibm.com
                 727-489-7202

SOURCE IBM