IBM has announced the opening of the IBM Service Management Center of Excellence in India which will act as the regional hub for IBM Tivoli service management software and strategy.

The center has been designed to develop specialized focus and skills in high value areas such as telecom, security, automation, and asset management. This first of its kind center has been established in Pune.

The center will be staffed by IBM Service Management experts from around the world and will provide infrastructure and resources for enablement and education; client engagement support to sales team and business partners; and facilities for proof of concept, demos and workshops.

It also will offer certification and joint education programs with local universities, access to industry models, best practices and proven methodologies based on IBM's worldwide service management experience.

"At India Software Lab, we encourage the blending of technology and domain expertise with industry relevance," said Ponani Gopalakrishnan, vice president, India Software Lab. "Our Centers of Excellence are designed with the objective of spurring innovation initiatives in partnership with clients and business partners. This IBM Service Management center will bring together worldwide experts, product developers and business process consultants to promote service management excellence."

Strategic Location 

Pune is a strategic location for India Software Lab for IBM Tivoli software development, support and service teams. IBM has chosen Pune as the location for this center to harness the local presence of deep technical skills and the ability to collaborate with several of the top engineering universities and institutes in the region based there.

"As Asia Pacific is one of the fastest growing markets for IBM Tivoli Service Management, we are responding strategically to this growing demand," said Pradeep Nair, director, Software Group, IBM India/South Asia. "IBM has always supported the advancement of service management best practices and open standards, and this center is an extension of IBM's commitment to service management capabilities in this region."

Through relationships with local universities, IBM is helping to shape the curricula and provide opportunities for students to develop the proper skills to succeed with service management in their chosen fields when they enter the workforce. Local students will have the opportunity to serve as interns at these centers, work hands on with technologies that support service management and attend IBM education sessions.

IBM's approach to Service Management is based on delivering integration of software and services to provide organizations better visibility into IT assets and applications across an entire business, while also enabling better security, compliance management and automation. Service management addresses the uncertainty faced by organizations as they manage faster, broader and more uncertain change. Built on an open, service oriented architecture (SOA), IBM's approach to service management helps organizations improve IT services and align them with business goals while keeping costs low, the company says.

For additional information visit: www.ibm.com/itsm.