AXA Group and IBM Extend Services Agreement

ARMONK, NY .- AXA Group, a worldwide leader in financial protection and wealth management, and IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that AXA Group has extended its Infrastructure On Demand (IOD) contract with IBM as part of a four-year agreement for IBM to provide information technology (IT) infrastructure services.
AXA Tech, the technology arm of AXA Group, has embarked on a program to consolidate, standardize and automate its IT infrastructure to reduce operating costs and improve service quality for its customers. IBM will provide deep industry expertise and world-class technology to AXA Tech in order to help accelerate the execution of their IT transformation.

Under terms of the contract, IBM will provide on demand mainframe, server and storage services and consulting to help AXA Tech transform their datacenter and processes. By utilizing an IT infrastructure with variable cost structures, AXA Group expects to achieve significant savings and respond more quickly to changing market conditions.

“This contract further demonstrates IBM’s commitment to providing AXA Group with world-class, high-value services solutions,” said Maurice Benigeri, Managing Director, AXA Group Integrated Account, IBM. “By partnering with IBM, AXA will have access to the world’s leading research and technology for an on demand operating environment, allowing AXA to significantly reduce its IT operational costs and increase productivity while focusing on their core business and clients.”

This agreement was signed in October 1, 2007. In 2003, AXA Group and IBM announced a six-year, $1 billion technology services agreement, with options to extend, to enhance the performance and efficiency of AXA’s global computing infrastructure.