SYDNEY, Dec. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that Australian fruit and vegetable retailer Harris Farm Markets has selected an IBM Flex System solution to help support its business growth and reduce IT costs and complexity.  The solution will significantly boost the performance of its critical systems including its enterprise resource (ERP) system to bolster Harris Farm Markets' commitment of offering its customers the freshest quality produce possible through its 23 stores across New South Wales.

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The IBM Flex System deployment underpins a broader solution from Business Partner Hands-on Systems designed to support Harris Farm's continuing growth for at least ten years. As part of its emphasis on scalable efficiency, the solution will reduce Harris Farm's data footprint by up to 80 per cent through real-time data compression; and optimize application performance using IBM's "easy-tier" functionality, which automatically transfers load between high-performance disks and solid state drives during intensive periods of operation.

"Harris Farm's reputation rests on our ability to offer the freshest quality produce possible," said Simon Maizels, Chief Information Officer, Harris Farm Markets. "By optimizing our ERP system with state-of-the-art hardware performance, the IBM Flex System will allow us to build on that reputation by offering us unprecedented capacity and response time when managing our supply lines, analytics and automatic stock replenishment systems.  Additionally, the solution will enable us to grow our new online delivery service which we plan to expand to the Sydney metro area in 2013."

Working with Hands-on Systems, IBM will provide Harris Farm Markets with a customized Flex System which will include an IBM Flex System Enterprise Chassis; two IBM Compute nodes; and an IBM Storwize V7000 storage system.

"Even before designing the solution, we were confident that IBM Flex System would provide Harris Farm with unmatched performance and potential for future growth," said Earl Paras, Hands-on Systems. "The adaptability and scalability of the IBM Flex System range fit Harris Farm's long-term IT growth and quality-assurance strategy perfectly."

Flex System will replace Harris Farm's existing IBM systems configuration to meet projected requirements for storage and applications.  The solution is expected to be delivered by mid-January 2013.

The IBM Flex System goes beyond competitor's blade configurations and provides the building-block elements for IBM PureSystems.  IBM Flex Systems are built-to-order offerings for clients who want to custom build and tune configurations to their specific requirements. This allows them to select the specific compute, systems networking and optional storage and management required to support their specific workloads.

The IBM PureSystems family offers clients an alternative to current enterprise computing models, where multiple and disparate systems require significant resources to set up and maintain.

The true value of PureSystems is the fully integrated and pre-tuned platforms.  The PureFlex System enables organizations to more efficiently create and manage an infrastructure. PureApplication System helps organizations reduce the cost and complexity of rapidly deploying and managing applications. PureData System is tuned for cloud computing and can consolidate more than 100 databases on a single system. In addition to the common web application patterns supported by PureApplication System, the combination of both PureData and PureApplication Systems can be used for end to end transaction workloads.

For IBM Business Partners, PureSystems creates a new services opportunity to help clients solve the complexity of enterprise IT, reduce costs and encourage innovation. From resellers to distributors and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), more than 2500 Business Partners have received PureSystems certifications. PureSystems currently run tens of thousands of existing ISV applications across four operating environments including Windows, Linux, AIX, and IBM i operating system. Additionally, Business Partners have created more than 250 new solutions and applications that are optimized to run on PureSystems. These patterns of expertise, which span 20 industries, can be accessed through the IBM PureSystems Centre. They include leading solutions from some of the world's largest ISVs, including ERP systems and applications for the banking, marketing, healthcare and energy industries. Partners are able to perform many of the configuration and deployment services that previously came only from IBM and are optional and optionally available to be performed by qualified business partners.

For more information on IBM PureSystems visit:  www.ibm.com/press/pure

For more information on Harris Farm Markets visit:  www.harrisfarm.com.au/

For more information on Hands-on Systems visit:  www.handson.com.au/Home.aspx

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All other company, product or service names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of others. Statements concerning IBM's future development plans and schedules are made for planning purposes only, and are subject to change or withdrawal without notice. Reseller prices may vary.

Media Contacts:

Gisele Boulay
Media Relations, IBM Australia
0401-713-940
gboulay@au1.ibm.com

Chris Rubsamen
IBM Worldwide Communications, STG   
914-766-4280
rubsamen@us.ibm.com 

Svetlana Stavreva
Media Relations, IBM Growth Markets
+43-664-6186851
stavreva@at.ibm.com

SOURCE IBM