IBM announced today a 10-year, multi-million dollar agreement with ElectraCard Services (ECS), a leading provider of software solutions for electronic payment systems, for providing business continuity services. The agreement will facilitate unparalleled operational expertise and solution capability for ECS's disaster recovery infrastructure.

  (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO )
  (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO )

IBM will enable ECS to align its IT initiatives, such as risk management, with their continued business requirements to help them focus on core business while reducing capital expenditure. ElectraCard Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Opus Software Solutions, provides business critical applications and third party processing services for credit and payment management across the world.

As part of the agreement, IBM will manage ECS's infrastructure at the disaster recovery site located at IBM's data center in Bangalore as well as their primary IT infrastructure located in Mumbai, making this one of the largest managed resiliency services deals in India.

"With ECS's growing business requirements, it has become crucial for us to merge our high dependency on IT with business goals in the current business context. We feel confident delegating this responsibility to IBM who has the requisite domain expertise and technology competence with regard to scalability and security," said Ramesh Krishnan, Head-Customer Delivery, ElectraCard Services. "In addition, IBM's pay-as-you-go model, their enduring commitment, existing relationship with us, and their delivery capabilities have resulted in this successful partnership."

With marquee clients including State Bank of India, Deutsche Bank, Life Insurance Corporation of India, Corporation Bank, and many other leading private, national and international banks, ECS's electra solution suite enables customers to gain a significant competitive advantage in the ever growing payments marketplace.

Ashish Kumar, General Manager, Global Technology Services, IBM India/South Asia, said, "We engaged deeply with ECS to understand their business objectives and growth trajectory. Based on our strong global expertise, we were able to provide them a unique and customized solution that will enable them to execute more effectively in the ever increasing competitive landscape and ensure business continuity and resiliency of operations."

  The contract was signed in March 2010.

  About IBM

  For more information, visit www.ibm.com/services.

  About ElectraCard Services

ElectraCard Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Opus Software Solutions, provides business critical applications and third party processing services for credit and payments management across the world. ECS is a PCI DSS certified Third Party Processor (TPP) for MasterCard® and VISA® across the issuing and acquiring side. Its deep domain knowledge, extensive global experience and cost effective solutions address the speed to market and flexibility challenges of today's market.

ElectraCard Services enables financial institutions, retailers, finance companies and corporations to electronically process, in real-time, any type of payment transaction, including credit, debit, pre-paid, smart cards, and ACH. In addition to typical back office processing, ECS also offers ecommerce gateway and switching solutions. Its solutions support multiple institutions, multiple currencies, and varying processing requirements on a single platform.

By providing comprehensive and flexible solutions that can be deployed to a market of one, ElectraCard Services offers unmatched services and solutions.

For more information, please visit www.electracard.com and www.opussoft.com.

®MasterCard is a registered trademark of MasterCard International, Incorporated.

  ®VISA is a registered trademark of VISA International Service Association.




  Media Contacts:

  Gouri Soumi
  IBM India
  +91-9945189504
  soumi.gouri@in.ibm.com

  Tara Sucato
  IBM Media Relations U.S.
  917-472-3701
  tjsucato@us.ibm.com

  Binu Jacob
  VOX Public Relations
  + 91 9538246715
  binu.jacob@voxpr.co.in

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact: tjsucato@us.ibm.com

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SOURCE: IBM