SAO PAULO, BRAZIL--(Marketwire - January 22, 2009) - IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that Santander in Brazil, through Produban -- a company responsible for Santander's entire IT infrastructure -- has established a five-year data center partnership with IBM.

Under the contract, IBM will be responsible, with control and guidance from Produban, for the continuous provision of hardware, software and basic support services for the bank's operations in Brazil. The project will help enable cost reduction and provide higher availability for the IT environment, supporting the bank's integration project with the provision of high-quality services.

The agreement was signed in December 2008.

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