Stan Gibson

With IBMs planned sale of its PC manufacturing unit to Lenovo, of China, the role of PCs at IBM is undergoing change. And as with many things at IBM, services are supplanting hardware in importance. IBM recently announced tweaks to its “PCs as a service” offerings so that a customer can choose from a menu […]

The New England Patriots have climbed to the top of the National Football League and remained there through dedication to the concept of team. Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick is famous for using his entire roster in every game, including calling on players such as Troy Brown and Mike Vrabel to take on difficult roles […]

Shared risk and reward is not a new concept in outsourcing and business consulting, but it is a contract model thats getting pulled and stretched into new and interesting shapes these days. IBMs Business Consulting Services, made up mainly of the former PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting, is writing risk and reward clauses into more of its contracts […]

Procter & Gambles $57 billion purchase of Gillette and SBCs bid for AT&T signal that its open season on Wall Street for mergers and acquisitions. But events that get the adrenaline of a Gordon Gekko pumping are more often than not a downer for IT execs because IT usually falls into the category of the […]

Large outsourcing deals are alive and well, an outsourcing deal maker claims, even though statistics showing that growth take some deciphering. The quarterly TPI Index Review, released by Technology Partners International, of The Woodlands, Texas, placed the value of outsourcing deals last year at $72 billion—the highest value in the last five years. However, growth […]

You know voice over IP has reached the mainstream when a company that describes itself as conservative builds VOIP migration into its data and voice communications road map. “The idea was never if it should happen, but when it should happen,” said Steve Lydston, IS manager for Networks and Security for Nissan North America Inc., […]

Siemens Communications Inc. responded to the desire of many customers to maintain conventional TDM PBXes alongside VOIP switches when the communications equipment vendor rolled out the HiPath 4000 series in 2002. The HiPath 4000 was followed by the HiPath 4300 and 4500 and the HiPath 5000, a pure-IP switch. However, the 5000 failed to connect […]

Moving to address the growing human resources outsourcing market, Electronic Data Systems Corp. is teaming with HR consultancy Towers Perrin on a joint venture. In addition, Towers Perrin signed a 10-year, $365 million deal with EDS to outsource its global network, desktop and hosting environment. EDS will also develop and manage some applications for Towers […]

While you were away for your holiday vacation, Meta Group was acquired by Gartner. Sure, it wasnt Oracle-PeopleSoft, but it was a significant acquisition that could end up touching more IT decisions than some of the more vaunted industry megamergers. Gartner sits atop the pile of analyst/market research companies made up of the likes of […]

The big theme for outsourcing and services in 2004? Without question, it was the rise of commodity outsourcing. The cautious rebound in IT spending has meant that IT budgets have had to run a gauntlet of skepticism at many companies. Gone are the days when the mere mention of IT was greeted with an open […]