Stan Gibson

Electronic Data Systems earned redemption on one of the largest and perhaps the most troubled contract in the history of outsourcing, gaining a three-year, $3.1 billion extension on the Navy Marine Corps Intranet contract. The contentious deal had resulted in legal wrangling between the two parties, which was settled with the extension signing as the […]

Fueled by purchases that accelerated in the second half of last year, worldwide IT spending in 2006 will cruise upward at a healthy rate of 6.3 percent, according to IT market research firm IDC. A report released today by International Data Corp., of Framingham, Mass., cited two main reasons for the trend: economic stability in […]

Piggybacking on IBMs global procurement centers and expertise, Solectron has signed a deal with IBM to handle its procurement processes. Solectron and IBM declined to name the dollar value and duration of the agreement, although the two companies indicated that the deal was for a multiyear span. Solectron, based in Milpitas, Calif., provides electronics manufacturing […]

While researchers judge the market for IT infrastructure outsourcing to have reached a virtual plateau with an annual growth rate in the single digits, business process outsourcing is in the midst of a growth spurt. IDC, a Framingham, Mass., research firm, predicts that BPO will grow at a compound annual rate of 10.9 percent. With […]

Consumer products giant Procter & Gamble is a bellwether in the trend to multisource—that is, to implement an outsourced business model with several key partners. Other leaders in this movement are General Motors and Dutch bank ABN AMRO. P&G began its outsourcing odyssey a half-decade ago, when it reportedly entered into talks to hand over […]

Bangalore, India, is a booming, sprawling metropolis. You can find almost anything here. You can even find a piece of Cincinnati if you know where to look. If you work at the Hewlett-Packard center handling BPO (business process outsourcing) for Procter & Gamble, you spend your day in as close an approximation of P&Gs Cincinnati […]

Microsoft kicked off a $500 million marketing push this week, and in the process singled out IBM as its main competitor. The so-called “people-ready” campaign touts Microsoft products as enabling business users to “realize their full potential.” The campaign is widely considered a curtain-raiser for the forthcoming Windows Vista and Office 2007 product releases. At […]

In a further demonstration of IBMs commitment to doing business in India, IBM Global Services the week of March 6 opened up a center in Bangalore for the development of standard, componentized applications that can be used by IGS customers worldwide in a variety of industries. India, which boasts 38,500 IBM employees, ranks only behind […]

We talk of globalization as if it were new today, but those of us with long memories may recall that it was Marshall McLuhan who coined the term “the global village,” circa 1964. McLuhan was before his time, though. Only now, with broadband Internet, have we finally succeeded in making it seem as if the […]

BANGALORE, India—Dont look now, but one of the fastest growing IT vendors in India isnt even Indian. Its IBM, which is in the midst of a major growth spurt on the subcontinent. Back in 1992, IBM re-launched its India operations, following a hiatus of more than a decade when political pressure drove many multinational companies, […]

MUMBAI, India—Among the forces arrayed to thwart Indias march to the center of the world technology stage, none draws more fire from executives than the Indian educational system. A recent study by McKinsey and Co. which was sponsored by Nasscom, found that India will need 2.3 million information technology and business process outsourcing workers by […]

It has become practically conventional wisdom on the subcontinent: India will do in IT what Japan has done in the auto industry—dominate it. But to make that happen, Indian companies will need to reinvent themselves: Call it India 2.0. Executives at Indias top technology services companies know their extraordinary ride of recent years wont last […]