ARMONK, N.Y., May 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced new migration resources to help Oracle software clients move up to IBM software. The new resources include no-charge financial and technology assessments, skills training courses, and proof of concepts to support clients ready to convert their Oracle investments to the latest in IBM software.

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IBM also announced today that its lending arm, IBM Global Financing is offering zero percent financing to help Oracle clients speed up their move to new IBM software. Today's news reinforces IBM's commitment to provide clients with greater choice, flexibility, and support for new and existing IT investments.

At a time when businesses are looking for stability and technology innovation from IT vendors, more clients are moving to IBM software to drive growth opportunities and reduce costs. In 2010, more than 1,000 Oracle Database clients chose DB2 instead, and more than 400 Oracle WebLogic clients chose WebSphere.

New migration resources:

To show Oracle clients how simple it can be to switch, IBM is providing access to new migration resources* including:

    --  A no-charge, detailed financial analysis that shows cost savings clients
        can achieve by switching from Oracle Database and Oracle WebLogic to IBM
        DB2 and WebSphere software.
    --  A no-charge, customized technical evaluation and conversion plan to show
        clients how fast and easy it can be to move up from Oracle to IBM
        software.
    --  More than 100 online and in-person skills training courses to add
        certified DB2 skills to Oracle Database developer and database
        administrator teams, and WebSphere expertise to Oracle software teams.
    --  A proof of concept where IBM works with clients to perform a
        side-by-side cost/performance comparison between Oracle and IBM software
        at an IBM Software Lab or client site.

Zero percent financing

Today's news comes at a time when Chief Financial Officers are placing more pressure on IT decision makers to find cost effective ways to fund growth investments that deliver a competitive advantage. To help Oracle clients lower their IT spending and save on upfront costs, IBM Global Financing is offering zero percent financing for credit qualified clients ready to make the switch to IBM Software.

"We can help make the move to IBM software extremely affordable with zero percent financing," said Marcelo Lema, General Manager of Client Financing for IBM Global Financing. "Financing enables clients to use limited cash resources to run their business, while making it easy and cost effective to migrate to industry leading enterprise software."

Financing includes:

    --  Fast approvals on zero percent financing for 12 months to better manage
        cash flow.
    --  No interest for 12 months and flexible payment options and terms
        including competitive 24 and 36-month rates with options that let
        clients match payments to anticipated cash flow.
    --  No hardware purchase required.

Clients Choose IBM Instead of Oracle

Guangdong Rural Credit Cooperatives, the largest rural credit bank in China, has selected IBM technology to build an enterprise-wide banking system to support its long term business strategies and growth. The new IT infrastructure built on DB2 and WebSphere software and Power Systems will consolidate the data and integrate the business processes of all 99 member cooperatives. IBM was selected as the preferred partner over Oracle and HP to provide the core technology for the IT infrastructure and integrate 23 disparate systems previously installed in member cooperatives.

The London branch of Deutsche Postbank AG is using a new IBM Smart Analytics System to help improve the quality and accuracy of its business reporting for risk monitoring, portfolio and collateral analysis. Prior to implementing the IBM analytics system, reporting for the bank was time consuming and involved multiple staff to manually collect data from disparate sources.

Now, using IBM technology, the bank has a single view of business information and can make decisions based on up to date information. IBM's Smart Analytics System was chosen over offerings from Oracle and other vendors because it offered a fully integrated solution based on IBM's workload optimized systems and industry leading IBM analytics and middleware.

Gazprom Neft, one of Russia's leading oil companies, is using IBM DB2 and WebSphere software to power its accounting system across its oil product delivery enterprises. As a result, the company expects to reduce operational risks and boost the flow of business data through its accounting application by 40 times, enabling users to approve accounting documents twice as fast.

As the company grew, its previous database software could not keep up with the number of users, causing interruptions, delays and downtime during peak periods of use. The company turned to IBM Business Partner ALP Group for help, and evaluated database software from Oracle and other vendors. Gazprom Neft chose DB2 based on its ability to manage massive amounts of information without interruptions or delays and deliver higher value for the cost than competing database software. The company also cites ease of use, low maintenance, simple migration and quick skills transfer in choosing DB2.

"Clients are looking to IBM software as an attractive alternative to forced migrations, uncertain product roadmaps, waning levels of support and rising licensing costs," said Bernie Spang, Director of Strategy, IBM Software. "More importantly, clients find that making the switch to IBM software helps them achieve their business goals faster and more economically."

For more information on how IBM technologies compare to Oracle and other vendors, visit www.ibm.com/facts.

For more information on the IBM Global Financing Zero Percent Offer, visit http://www-03.ibm.com/financing/us/lifecycle/acquire/itsoftware.html.

About IBM Global Financing

IBM Global Financing, the financing business segment of IBM and the world's premier single-source provider for IT financing solutions, serves commercial clients ranging from small businesses to the majority of the Fortune 100. With assets of $36 billion worldwide, IBM Global Financing provides project financing, commercial financing and asset-recovery services to 125,000 clients in more than 50 countries. Additional information can be found at http://www.ibm.com/financing.

* Terms and conditions apply. Not available in all countries.

Sean TetponIBM Media Relations(914) 766-1276

SOURCE IBM