IBM wins outsourcing deals worth $1 billion

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[b]IBM wins outsourcing deals worth $1 billion[/b]
[i]IBM on Wednesday said it has sealed deals worth more than $1 billion in new outsourcing work with two European companies, A.P. Moller-Maersk and Danske Bank.[/i]

Big Blue did not provide specific figures for how much each deal is worth.

The news comes as IBM completes its acquisition of two computer services companies, one owned by Maersk and the other by Danske Bank.

IBM said its acquisitions of Maersk's Maersk Data and Danske Bank's DMdata were done to expand in Europe's technology services market.

Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM said that Maersk and Danske Bank gave it the new service deals because they believe Big Blue will provide Maersk Data and DMdata enough funding and capacity, which the units were previously lacking, in order to take on more work, IBM said.

Dominique Cerutti, general manager of IBM Global Services in Europe, confirmed that the contracts are for new work. IBM said it would provide Maersk, a container shipping company, with services such as management consulting and software development. The deal will span five years.

Danske Bank, Denmark's biggest financial group, selected IBM to manage its worldwide technology systems, an assignment which will last 10 years.

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