IBM and i2 Form Supply Chain e-Business Relationship
IBM and i2 Technologies announced a relationship that will combine the strengths of both companies to provide supply chain customers with powerful integrated solutions as they transform themselves into e-businesses.
The relationship will allow clients to optimize their e-business processes on the Internet by offering leading-edge supply chain applications, consulting, technology, advanced research capabilities and implementation and integration skills on a global basis. Customers will benefit from the intelligent e-business solutions delivered by i2’s Internet Fulfillment Server coupled with the company’s supply chain offerings.
In order to stay ahead of the competition, customers like Delta Faucet, a leading U.S.-based manufacturer of faucets, and Carraro Group, one of Italy’s leading automotive and industrial components manufacturers, have chosen IBM and i2 to help them deliver their e-business solutions that include supply chain management.
"We’ve seen firsthand the benefit of combining IBM’s end-to-end capability, from business consulting on the front end to systems integration on the back end, with i2’s advanced functionality. We think this alliance can only add greater value to Delta Faucet and to our customers and suppliers," comments Steve McFarland, Chief Financial Officer of Delta Faucet.
IBM and i2, sharing a common e-business and supply chain vision, will collaborate on strategy, marketing, sales and development. Under the agreement, the companies will jointly market and sell e-business and supply chain solutions, including i2’s RHYTHM suite, through their global direct sales forces. i2 will benefit from IBM’s global resources and research facilities. IBM will establish global Supply Chain Centers of Excellence, featuring combined IBM and i2 solutions.
Through the relationship, i2 will incorporate the standards and technologies of IBM’s Application Framework for e-business; an open, multi-platform approach to building and deploying integrated e-business applications. From this base, IBM and i2 will support the development of industry standards for open data modeling, which will help facilitate the multi-company collaboration necessary to improve supply chains.
This relationship will be a strategic cornerstone of IBM’s Supply Chain Management solutions. Working with a select set of companies, such as i2, IBM will develop, market and implement leading edge, integrated supply chain management solutions.
"Our two years of experience with i2 as a business partner and provider of supply chain technology for our internal business operations has convinced us that i2 is a true supply chain applications market leader. IBM and i2 have a shared vision and passion for creating value and competitive advantage for those businesses aggressively pursuing new and better ways of serving their customers and doing so in a cost effective manner," said Bill Paulk, Vice President of Supply Chain Solutions in IBM Global Industries.
"This relationship will enable companies to take advantage of our proven, high value solutions to key business problems, properly customized and integrated for the uniqueness of each business. In the past, customers have had to invest excessive time and resources evaluating and choosing among multiple vendors rather than focusing on business performance improvement," said Greg Brady, President of i2 Technologies.
This agreement represents the first step in an evolving relationship intended to address broader supply chain and value chain (integrating and optimizing supply chain processes enterprisewide) challenges facing customers.
For more information, visit www.ibm.com/e-business/supplychain, or www.i2.com.