IBM signs up for telecoms alliances

IBM has signed deals with Alcatel, Lucent, Nortel, Telcordia and Ulticom to sell hardware, software and services to telecommunications companies.

The company negotiated separate agreements with each company. Each alliance will target global customers that want to move their older voice systems to more modern voice and data networks that are able to take full advantage of the internet.

The aim is for telecommunications companies to offer customers an array of digital services, such as wireless transactions, cable links to the internet, voice and data traffic over the same network, and data centres for companies providing software over the internet on a pay-as-you-use basis.

In a statement, IBM said it expects sales to telecommunications companies for network expansion and upgrades to rise to a total of $100bn in 2003, up from $70bn this year.

Mike Hill, IBM's telecommunications industry general manager, said the agreements meant that the company and its partners could help telcos "completely rebuild their ebusiness infrastructure".

Hill added that increasingly sophisticated software and semiconductors are required to knit together telco systems and increase data speeds.