Chennai: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) today commissioned the latest 64- bit z-series e-server from IBM, becoming the first organisation in ASEAN and South East Asia region to acquire the latest technology in mainframe computing.

Announcing that both TCS and IBM had decided to address specific market areas as business partners to provide total solutions to customers in the country, TCS Executive Vice-President S Mahalingam told reporters that the company had invested a total of Rs 25 crore in acquiring the server.

"It is a key acquisition for TCS and the system is much more powerful than the existing two R-25 and one R-24 servers with us," he said.

The e-server, set up at the TCS facility here, can process about 480 million instructions per second, making TCS the most powerful computing centre in the country, he said.

"With state-of-the-art facilities, technical expertise, tools and technologies TCS now can provide solutions to a very powerful segment of the industry," Mahalingam added.

TCS and IBM would work in several areas including Linux on e-servers and Websphere related technologies in e-business areas, Tivoli TME/10 for enterprise systems management, Lotus notes and associated groupware technologies among other areas. As IBM's partner, TCS would provide system integration services and take them to IBM hardware, system software and technology.

Mahalingam, however, said that the partnership was not exclusive in nature. "There will be areas where we will be competing with each other," IBM India managing director and CEO Abraham Thomas said.

The server could run continuously without having to ever bring the machine down, enabling customers to save time and process much faster, he added.

On the impact of the economic slowdown in the US, Mahalingam expressed optimism, saying "It cannot stop us from developing infrastructure." Some of the projects at hand for TCS include re-engineering programmes for a leading insurance company and converting legacy systems into state-of-the-art systems.

UNI

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