Spanish savings bank "la Caixa" and IBM has announced the establishment of a ten-year strategic services relationship. As part of the agreement, IBM and Serveis Informatics la Caixa, S.A. (Silk) will manage the infrastructure technology budget of "la Caixa" of more than 2 billion euro over ten years.

IBM, through Silk, will provide technology, operations, applications and infrastructure services to "la Caixa" and will manage its data processing centers, located in Cerdanyola del Valles and San Cugat (Barcelona). The IBM-provided scope represents about half of this budget, while the remainder is directed to additional third-party service providers.

"Working with one of the most recognized technology leaders in the world is very important to us," said Juan Maria Nin, "la Caixa" general manager. "This agreement allows us to offer better services to our clients and obtain competitive advantages in a sector in which innovation and new technologies are key to realizing growth."