A Five-Year Project Strengthens the Strategic Relationship Between Both Companies

ARMONK, NY–(EMWNews – July 23, 2008) – IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Romero Group, Peru’s largest

private business group, today announced they have signed a five-year IT

infrastructure outsourcing agreement.

To keep up with growing SAP resource demands, Romero Group started to

assess — in late 2007 — the outsourcing of their technology platform as

well as different services options available in the market. They sought a

technology partner who would be capable of meeting the highest SAP

outsourcing quality standards at competitive costs.

To meet these needs, IBM proposed a solution that leveraged its external

storage and UNIX processing technologies, which met all the technical

requirements and could provide the expected benefits. The service scope

also included the application of outsourcing best practices, which IBM has

leveraged with over 50 customers in Peru and on hundreds of technology

campuses worldwide.

In addition, Romero Group has decided to expand the solutions scope to

other IT components, adding new services for Intel and Power Systems

platforms, as well as in-store equipment maintenance services.

“Romero Group’s confidence in IBM further demonstrates our ability to

deliver quality services as well as the continued need to develop our

outsourcing services through investments in existing technology campuses

and in the human capital for our organization,” said Eduardo Sarmiento,

Services Manager for Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Paraguay and Uruguay.

The agreement was signed in April of 2008.