Wal-Mart Chooses IBM\'s Most Advanced
Servers and Storage for Powerful Technology Infrastructure
Business Wire
October 15, 2001 9:01am
Business Editors & Hi-Tech Writers
ARMONK, NY.--(BUSINESS WIRE)---Oct. 15, 2001--
World\'s Leading Retailer Using IT to Better Serve More Than
4,000 Retail Stores and Millions of Customers Worldwide
IBM today announced that Wal-Mart, the world\'s largest retailer,
has selected IBM Enterprise Storage Servers and IBM eServer z900
mainframes as the backbone of Wal-Mart\'s worldwide data center
infrastructure that serves more than 4,000 Wal-Mart stores,
Supercenters and SAM\'s Club facilities and millions of customers
worldwide.
Wal-Mart is using the new Enterprise Storage Servers (code named
"Shark") and the eServer z900 to create an e-business infrastructure
that will more efficiently and quickly handle the data processing,
reconciliation, debit and credit transactions, as well as the product
replenishment for all of its retail outlets.
\""This new IBM technology allows us to have a faster processing
time, greater availability of our systems and better systems operation
without interruption," said Dan Phillips, vice president, Technology
Support and Operations, Wal-Mart. "The IBM Shark and eServer z900 have
given us a significant improvement in our processing time, in some
cases allowing us to cut our processing time for some jobs by more
than half.\""
This ability to save processing time allows Wal-Mart a faster look
at trends in inventory and sales, allowing the retailer an even
sharper focus on customer service, its low-price philosophy and
international expansion and growth.
\""Wal-Mart\'s unwavering focus on customer service and business
efficiency is near legendary in retailing, and they are widely known
as visionary leaders in leveraging information technology to achieve
those goals. Wal-Mart chose IBM\'s Shark and eServer z900 servers after
rigorous benchmarking that demonstrated their reliability, power and
capability," said David Carlucci, general manager, IBM Americas. "As
companies transform themselves from businesses to e-businesses, their
number one priority is building an IT infrastructure that is powerful
enough to do the job now, and flexible enough to grow. Wal-Mart is
doing that here.\""
The IBM "Shark" Enterprise Storage Server
The Enterprise Storage Server is the high-performance disk storage
solution from IBM, which is recognized for its leadership in storage
systems, software, services and patented technology. Built on the
foundation of IBM\'s Seascape architecture, the Enterprise Storage
Server works with a variety of hardware and software technologies,
such as Windows NT, UNIX, Novell NetWare, the entire IBM eServer
family--and with a variety of interfaces, including Fibre Channel,
Ultra SCSI and ESCON. More information is available at
www.ibm.com/storage.
IBM eServer
IBM is the world\'s largest server company, offering a full line of
data transaction, Web application and appliance servers that embrace
industry standards. Powered by breakthroughs such as microprocessors
with copper wiring and Silicon-on-Insulator technology, IBM servers
have captured industry leading benchmarks that measure transactions,
web serving capabilities and performance in software applications. The
IBM eServer line is an integral part of customized, flexible and
scalable Internet solutions for companies of all sizes. IBM supports
Linux on its entire portfolio of e-business servers. Information on
IBM eServer is available at http://www.ibm.com/eserver
IBM and Retailers
IBM provides the Retail Industry with a full range of e-business
solutions, including: point-of-sale systems, other hardware and
software technology, consulting focused on business transformation, IT
strategy and planning, store operations improvement, and supply chain
optimization, and with services, such as outsourcing, managed
operations, systems integration, and application development and
design. IBM has been the leader in retail point-of-sale systems for
more than 20 years. For more information on IBM Retail Solutions,
please visit www.ibm.com/solutions/retail
The IBM eServer brand consists of the established IBM e-business
logo with the descriptive term "server" following it.
The IBM e-business logo, zSeries, pSeries, xSeries and iSeries are
trademarks of IBM Corporation. All others are trademarks of their
respective companies.
--30--ah/ny*
CONTACT: IBM
Greg Thompson, 404/238-5052
Cell: 678/361-6293
gregoryt@us.ibm.com
or
Wal-Mart
Tom Williams, 501/277-0609
tpwilli@wal-mart.com
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