MADRID, June 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced they have signed a four-year collaboration agreement with Sol Melia, one of the world's largest hotel chains. IBM will manage and transform Sol Melia's technology infrastructure in support of the company's initiatives to reduce operational cost and foster innovation.

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In Spain and across Europe, IBM will manage Sol Melia's central IT platform and the equipment used daily by 4,500 users. IBM will also manage the technology infrastructure that runs the company's business applications, including Enterprise Resource Planning, Customer Relationship Management, e-mail and the hotel's reservation system, as well as host and manage Sol Melia's Web site where guests access the reservation system online. The agreement, signed in February 2010, also includes providing help desk services to Sol Melia's users in Spain, Europe and 19 hotels in Latin America.

Through a Joint Innovation Committee, IBM and Sol Melia will collaborate on technology innovations that will support business priorities. The first step is to deploy desktop cloud services, leveraging virtualization technology that will enable Sol Melia's employees to access standardized computing utilizing more efficient information technology (IT) management.

"Our goal with this agreement is to maximize flexibility and to align our technology model to business demands," said Gabriel Escarrer Jaume, Chief Executive Officer, Sol Melia. "Through this new agreement with IBM, Sol Melia emphasizes its determination to maximize internal efficiencies as a way to provide greater service excellence and sustainable growth."

"Our business relationship with Sol Melia spans many years. As one of its key collaborators, IBM is showing how technology can strengthen Sol Melia's business strategies and can help the company build a smarter network of hotels worldwide," said Juan A. Zufiria, General Manager, IBM Spain, Portugal, Greece and Israel.

About Sol Melia

Founded in 1956 in Palma de Mallorca (Spain), Sol Melia is one of the largest vacation hotel companies in the world, plus the Spanish market leader in both the leisure and the business area. It currently has more than 300 hotels in 26 countries on 4 continents, marketed under their brands: Gran Melia, Melia, ME by Melia, Innside by Melia, Tryp, Sol, Paradisus and Sol Melia Vacation Club. For more information, please visit www.solmelia.com.

About IBM

For more information, please visit www.ibm.com/services. 


    Media Contacts
    Cecilia Garcia
    IBM Communications (Spain)
    (34) 91 397 59 55
    cecilia.garcia@es.ibm.com

    Tara Sucato
    IBM Media Relations (U.S.)
    917-472-3701
    tjsucato@us.ibm.com

SOURCE IBM