IDS and IBM Team to Optimize Supply Chain Management
10/28/2004
Integrated Distribution Solutions L.L.C. (IDS) and IBM today announced that they will develop and deliver comprehensive, Linux-based solutions to help food and consumer goods distributors optimize their supply chains, customer management, and other critical business processes.
"Our customers depend on IDS to deliver total solutions that work in an integrated fashion," said Todd P. Michaud, IDS President, "and we have learned over the years that we must pick our strategic technology partners carefully so that our customers get comprehensive solutions to their business problems. With our IBM strategic alliance, our customers can rest-assured that our joint implementations will deliver meaningful business results rapidly, smoothly and in an integrated fashion."
"Clearly, the benefits that Linux offers to customers make it a critical offering for all vendors' short- and long-term growth strategies," said Buell Duncan, General Manager, ISV & Developer Relations, IBM. "Some 4,700 of our business partners already support Linux-enabled IBM software, which is strong indication of the value that Linux delivers to both partners and customers."
Building from a base of 800 joint customers running IDS software on IBM eServer systems™ and IBM middleware, the joint IDS-IBM Linux™ solutions seeks to benefit distributors in the foodservice, grocery, convenience, and consumer goods industries by giving them a reliable, flexible platform for deploying business applications to help them gain competitive advantage, while dramatically reducing costs.
IBM said that as part of an expanded strategic alliance between the two companies, IDS will configure its IDS Power Enterprise™ suite of products on IBM’s eServer iSeries™, xSeries™, and pSeries™ hardware platforms running theLinux operating system. This new product suite is available today.
IDS Power Enterprise is a portfolio of software modules exclusively designed for companies in the food and consumer goods distribution industry. It includes customer relationship management, supplier relationship management, operations and warehouse automation, financial accounting, and business intelligence components. IDS Power Enterprise solutions are currently used by some of the world's largest and most advanced food distributors.
Under the terms of the agreement, IBM says it will assist IDS in marketing the IDS Power Enterprise applications and provide technical support to IDS. In addition, they said that IDS will continue to provide IBM eServer systems and IBM middleware on Linux, including IBM WebSphere™ and IBM DB2 Universal Database™, as the platform of choice for IDS customers.
For more information, visit www.ids-world.com or www.ibm.com.