ARMONK, NY–(EMWNews – August 8, 2008) – IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that it has been

positioned in the “Leaders” quadrant in Gartner, Inc.’s Magic Quadrant for

Storage Professional and Support Services.(1)

The ability to execute and completeness of vision were examined while

positioning each storage professional and support services provider.

According to Gartner, Inc., “Leaders are performing well today, have a

clear vision of market direction and are actively building competencies to

sustain their leadership position in the market. Service providers in this

quadrant have a strong worldwide presence, provide a broad range of

services, invest in innovative service tools and technologies and

articulate a clear vision of current and future customer requirements and

storage service solutions.”

With key market drivers including the explosion of the volume of

information and data, regulatory and compliance concerns and escalating

information technology (IT) management costs, IBM Global Technology

Services has unmatched worldwide scope of storage services delivery

capabilities, and strategic outsourcing leadership.

In the past year, IBM Global Technology Services made three strategic

acquisitions to build on its strategy of providing standardized storage and

information protection services which deliver high value and more

predictable business results to clients.

• In the first quarter of 2007, IBM acquired privately held data

  migration specialist Softek Storage Solutions Corp. Through this

  acquisition, IBM has assembled the most complete and unified data mobility

  offerings and worldwide delivery expertise for managing data in storage

  array, host, and virtualized information technology (IT) environments.

• In October 2007, IBM acquired storage solutions company NovusCG to

  provide clients with improved access to business information, enable

  stronger regulatory and corporate compliance, and boost their overall

  information technology performance.

• In January 2008, IBM acquired privately held information protection

  company Arsenal Digital Solutions to better align managed backup with

  business continuity and disaster recovery facilities for mid-market

  customers.

“IBM’s unique approach to storage and data services is founded on a client

view of the problems they are trying to solve. Therefore, we integrate

across our company — with IBM Research and Development, the many recent

IBM acquisitions like XiV, Diligent, and Cognos — and with our robust

partner network to provide end-to-end client solutions,” said Paul Fried,

vice president for Storage and Data Services, IBM Global Technology

Services. “In my opinion, this honor from Gartner shows that IBM’s evolving

winning and well executed strategy is paying off, and demonstrates our

continued commitment to helping clients more efficiently store, manage and

understand, and leverage data so they can align their IT and business

strategies to grow their respective businesses.”

IBM is the largest storage services provider worldwide and has over 100

System Storage Solution Centers. IBM Global Technology Services uses

methodologies and prior engagement experiences to offer solutions that help

maximize operational effectiveness and gain competitive advantage while

minimizing costs for clients.

Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Storage Professional and Support Services is

available to Gartner clients at www.Gartner.com.

About IBM

For more information about IBM, visit www.ibm.com.

(1) Gartner, Inc. “Magic Quadrant for Storage Professional and Support

Services” by Adam W. Couture and Robert E. Passmore, July 30, 2008,

* Magic Quadrant Disclaimer

The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted 2008 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with

permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a

marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner’s

analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that

marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor,

product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise

technology users to select only those vendors placed in the “Leaders”

quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is

not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all

warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including

any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.