WARSAW, Poland, Sept. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the opening of two new branch offices in the cities of Krakow and Poznan as it extends its presence in the country's fast-growing regional cities. The new offices will help increase support for IBM's customers and partners in the two locations especially those in the small and medium-sized business sector which plays a key role in the Polish economy.

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The move follows the opening of new IBM branches in the cities of Wroclaw and Katowice earlier this year - extending IBM's reach far beyond the country's capital Warsaw.

"In recognition of the continued importance of Poland to IBM and to ensure the highest levels of support for our clients and partners, we are strengthening our branch network in a number of strategic locations across the country," said Anna Sienko, Country General Manager, IBM Poland & Baltics. "Krakow and Poznan are dynamically developing cities where we are working with local entrepreneurs to strengthen their competitive positions."

Through its geographic expansion initiative, IBM is targeting the opportunity in white space territories in emerging markets - high-growth cities and regions where there is significant opportunity for growth and where businesses and government organizations are turning to IT to transform their operations and increase competitiveness.

The two new offices in Poland supplement the growing network of locations that IBM has across Central and Eastern Europe. Today, IBM also announced the opening of new offices in the cities of Adana and Bursa in Turkey.

"Poland's resilience in the face of global and Euro-zone troubles, coupled with its large domestic market, has made it a stand-out country for business in Europe," said Aidan Manktelow, Europe Director, Economist Corporate Network. "Despite some slowing of the economy at present, Poland looks well placed for sustained robust growth. We see the IT market expanding from US$9.8bn in 2012 to almost US$13bn by 2016."

Cultivating Business in Krakow

Part of the Malopolska region in the South of Poland, Krakow is one of Poland's main economic and cultural centers. In recent years, Krakow has been the focus of hi-tech investments with a dynamic IT industry and a growing number of small and medium-sized businesses alongside foreign investors. IBM already has two global facilities in Krakow - a software laboratory and a business process services center.

IBM is already working in the public and private sectors in Krakow. As part of IBM's Smarter Cities initiative, IBM is working with the City Hall, the University of Science and Technology (AGH) and the Management of Municipal Infrastructure and Transport to help develop an intelligent solution to support waste management on Krakow's streets. Thanks to smarter technologies and business analytics, city dwellers may now use the internet to report incidents of road surface waste and debris. The system also helps to schedule work for municipal employees and contractors in order to keep the city's streets clear of waste.

"IBM's analytical tools allow us to better manage and maintain our road systems giving us the insights we need in order to make optimum decisions," said Michal Pyclik from the Management of Municipal Infrastructure and Transport, Krakow.

IBM is also working with the University of Science and Technology (AGH) on joint research in the area of cloud computing technology development.

Positioning for Growth in Poznan

The city of Poznan, in the Wielkopolska region in west-central Poland, is important center of trade with active automotive, transportation, logistics and manufacturing industries.

IBM is already working with a number of clients in Poznan such Volkswagen for whom IBM has provided a new computing infrastructure and information management system. The system provides efficient access to important information about the company's operations and customers in the country. The new system has 50 percent more storage capacity and is 8 times faster than the previous system.

"IBM is one of our strategic partners in Poland. It has helped us to transform the way we work as a company - enabling our employees to perform more effectively and provide the highest possible level of service to our customers," said Edward Lachowicz, CIO of Volkswagen Poznan.

IBM is also collaborating with the Faculty of Mathematics and IT Science at Poznan University to help students gain technical and business skills in cloud computing.

IBM first established its operations in Poland in 1991 with its headquarters in the country's capital Warsaw. Today IBM also has a number of key facilities across Poland serving clients around the world such as the IBM Delivery Center in Wroclaw, the IBM Business Transformation Outsourcing Center in Krakow, the IBM Software Laboratory in Krakow and the IBM Competence Implementation Center in Gdansk.

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Contacts

Monika Maciag-Kruszewska/Tomasz Stachera
IBM Poland
tomasz.stachera@pl.ibm.com
monika.maciag@pl.ibm.com
+48 22 878 67 77

Jonathan Batty
IBM Growth Markets Uni
Jonathan.batty@pl.ibm.com
+48 693935403

SOURCE IBM