IBM Corporation (
IBM) - traditionally known as ‘Big Blue’ - has won a major Australian federal government contract. IBM has headquarters in Armonk, New York, United States. The company has transitioned to a cloud services player with a focus on ‘Big Data’ solutions, machine learning and Internet of Things (IoT) offerings. It acquired cloud company Softlayer in 2012 to enhance its cloud capabilities, and was also in the news earlier this year for acquiring Oniqua Holdings Pty Ltd. (Oniqua) - an Australian Internet of Things (IoT) provider. The new five-year contract is reportedly worth $740 million to IBM.
The deal is the largest information technology contract signed in Australia and aims to make the Australian federal government one of the world’s top three digital governments by 2025. It will enable Australian government agencies that do not currently leverage IBM offerings to be able to do so. This will offer “significant savings” on hardware, software and cloud-based solutions. The contract also covers ‘joint innovation programs’. IBM and the Australian government’s ‘Digital Transformation Agency’ will work together in areas that include quantum computing, blockchain, cybersecurity and Atificial ntelligence (AI).
“The Whole of Government agreement reflects the growing importance of technology to the government’s transformation agenda,” explained the Managing Director IBM Australia and New Zealand, David La Rose. “For agencies it will be more simple and cost efficient to engage with IBM, while our technologies make it possible for government to deliver smarter, integrated, always-on digital services for citizens,” he added.
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