IBM Accelerates the Delivery of New Asset Management Solutions From MRO Software

MRO Software, an IBM (NYSE: IBM) company, today announced availability of the latest version of IBM Maximo, used by customers to manage mission-critical assets such as production equipment, facilities, or transportation fleets.

Maximo is the industry-leading asset management solution that IBM recently added to its Tivoli software portfolio with the acquisition of MRO Software, which was completed in October of 2006.

IBM Maximo 6.2 extends IBM's Tivoli service management portfolio beyond data center and IT management to assets as diverse as oil and gas refineries, power plants, facilities and vehicle, aircraft and marine fleets. By tracking and proactively managing these assets with IBM Maximo, customers can improve asset efficiency, extend asset life cycles and improve asset reliability. Organizations with well-managed assets recognize benefits such as improved production levels, increased regulatory compliance and improved reliability.

The new Maximo 6.2 is the result of increased development resources and investment provided by IBM. With a focus on the long-term success in the Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) and IT Asset and Service Management markets, IBM has increased the Maximo product development investment in support of these markets, as well as in the Maximo EAM Industry Solution products. IBM also added resources in the form of developers, business process consultants and industry experts as part of the accelerated development program.

In addition to the availability of Maximo 6.2, the company also outlined plans for future product releases for the EAM and industry-specific markets. Scheduled for release in 2007 is a version of Maximo to support the needs of third-party providers of asset management services. This market has specific requirements including third-party billing, contractor management, service level management and the ability to track customer agreements. The Maximo solution will meet those and other needs specific to this market. Also planned are solutions for the transmission, distribution and nuclear utilities and government markets, in addition to product enhancements for calibration, asset configuration, transportation and life sciences.

"We continue to see an increasing demand for Maximo solutions in our traditional core EAM market for customers seeking to more efficiently manage their critical operating assets. With the addition of IBM's EAM and development resources, we've been able to accelerate the delivery of new enhancements and modules for this market," said Jack Young, vice president, products and technologies, MRO Software, an IBM company. "With the added resources, we're working to speed the release of these products, and increase our commitment to this market."

As part of the Maximo 6.2 launch, the company also released a white paper outlining future deliverables and an overview of the current market drivers. These drivers include the ongoing push for systems consolidation and the convergence of operational and IT assets. To read the white paper, please visit: http://www.mro.com/corporate/pdf/TIE10308-USEN-00.pdf

Maximo 6.2 is available today through IBM and IBM Business Partners. For more information please visit www.mro.com

About MRO Software, an IBM company

MRO Software, an IBM Company, is the leading provider of asset and service management solutions. The Company's solution suite, Maximo is delivered on a Web-architected platform and increases productivity, optimizes asset performance and service levels, reduces costs and enables asset-related sourcing and procurement across the entire spectrum of strategic assets.

Maximo solutions allow customers to manage the complete life cycle of all assets strategic to their business. Using Maximo, customers improve production reliability, labor efficiency, material optimization, software license compliance, lease management, warranty and service management across their asset base.

Maximo solutions are used by more than 300,000 end-users in a wide variety of industries around the world. Additional information can be found at http://www.mro.com