IBM Global Financing Targets Oracle-Sun and HP Clients to Upgrade to IBM Workload Optimized POWER7 Systems

Credit for used Sun and HP Equipment; interest-free deferred payments until 2011

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Sep 10, 2010, 02:04 ET

ARMONK, N.Y., Sept. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced a new financing program, including credit from IBM for used equipment, attractive lease terms and no payments until 2011, for credit-qualified clients in the U.S. that trade-in select Oracle-Sun and HP systems and migrate to upgradeable systems of IBM's new Power® family of workload optimized servers.

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This new program, provided by IBM Global Financing, helps clients easily and affordably acquire new mid-range and high-end IBM Power Systems™. IBM will provide clients with trade-in credit for their old Oracle-Sun and HP equipment(1), which can be applied to the new Power Systems lease payments. Additionally, credit qualified clients can benefit from interest-free payment deferral and avoid payments until 2011(2) on their new Power Systems to accommodate a seamless move to IBM systems.

"We are giving HP and Oracle-Sun clients a way to trade in their old equipment for credit for new Power Systems and get a great leasing program to help manage costs," said Dan Ransdell, GM, IBM Global Financing, North America. "We are hearing from clients that they are worried about fuzzy, uncertain product roadmaps and rising maintenance fees from other IT manufacturers. They can easily switch to IBM's latest workload optimized systems with leasing and an upgrade plan that protects against technology obsolescence."

Through the IBM lease program, clients can be confident that their technology growth will keep pace with their technology growth, without major cash outlays for incremental capacity increases. Clients are able to easily "turn on" additional processing capacity built into the mid-range Power 770 and high-end 780 and 795 systems without disruption to their operations - and experience little or no change to monthly lease payments through a base lease extension. This smooth transition approach for both technology and cash flow allows clients to maximize their investment and achieve higher economic value throughout the IT lifecycle while avoiding technology obsolescence with affordable mid-lease upgrades and programmatic refreshes.

Through leases and loans, IBM Global Financing helps clients convert large upfront investments into a stream of monthly payments to lower financial risk and make budgeting easier and more predictable. By leasing equipment from IBM Global Financing, clients preserve cash for other strategic investments—growing their core business, funding additional innovation or staying competitive.

"The real value that IBM Global Financing brings is its ability to minimize the financial impact for customers migrating to the new Power Systems," said Ransdell. "Financing can smooth out up-front transition costs, helping to better match costs with expected benefits."

The new high-end Power systems are designed to manage the most demanding workloads and emerging applications. The new systems – servers, software and IBM's industry-leading PowerVM™ virtualization capabilities – allow customers to better manage ever-increasing amounts of data in an interconnected world and to conserve energy and floor space in burdened data centers.

"IBM has an unmatched migration capability for customers moving from non-IBM servers to IBM Systems," said Tom Rosamilia, GM, Power and z Systems, Systems &Technology Group. "In the first half of 2010, we concluded over 500 competitive migrations to IBM Power Systems." More than 2,600 companies have switched from the competition to IBM Power Systems since IBM established its Migration Factory program four years ago.

About IBM Global Financing

IBM Global Financing is the world's largest technology financier with $35B assets and provides the broadest portfolio of IT financing and asset management solutions that deliver greater economic value throughout the technology lifecycle. IGF has over 125,000 clients, in 55 countries, and almost 30 years in business. For more information please visit: http://www.ibm.com/financing/us/lifecycle/manage/migration/move.html.

About IBM

For more information please visit: http://www.ibm.com/systems/smarter.

IBM Global Financing offerings are provided through IBM Credit LLC in the United States and other IBM subsidiaries and divisions worldwide to qualified commercial and government clients. Rates are based on a client's credit rating, financing terms, offering type, equipment type and options, and may vary by country. Other restrictions may apply. Rates and offerings are subject to change, extension or withdrawal without notice.

Designated Sun and HP Systems include but not limited to: SUN – Sun SPARC Enterprise T5220/Sun SPARC Enterprise T5240, the UltraSPARC T1 based Sun SPARC Enterprise T200 and Sun M9000. HP – The entire family of HP servers including the Proliant DL380G5, and HP Superdome. Enterprise owners are encouraged to contact an IBM Global Financing representative to ascertain if a particular Sun or HP Server product applies under this program.
Featured term is 40-month fair market value lease (B-lease) with a 120 day interest free deferral for leases entered into on or prior to October 1, 2010. For leases entered after October 1, 2010, the term of the FMV lease if 39 months, with a 90 day interest free deferral. . Eligible hardware: IBM Power 770 server (9117-MMB), IBM Power 780 server (9117-MHB) and IBM Power 795 (9119-FHB) that are acquired by customers utilizing the IBM Power Systems trade-in program for trade-in of designated non-IBM systems from Hewlett- Packard or Oracle-Sun Microsystems. This program has no end date but can be withdrawn from market at any time. The offer is limited to FMV transactions greater than USD $75,000 in the United States and its territories only, special bid only, credit qualified customers only.