Posted by : Anonymous on Sep 07, 2004 - 07:45 AM General

TORONTO (CP) - IBM Canada Ltd. plans a $35 million expansion to create regional centres across Canada to sell technology services to small and mid-sized companies. The move by the Toronto-area computer giant is part of a broader strategy to expand its penetration of the small and mid-sized corporate market in Canada for technology services, business the company says is worth up to $5.6 billion a year.

"Small to mid-sized companies in Canada spend about 60 per cent of their IT budgets on services," Shannon O'Connor, a senior executive in IBM's global services division, said in a release Thursday. "These businesses place a high priority on price and on having one key local provider to meet their IT services needs."

The companies IBM Canada is targeting are those with worforces of between 100 and 1,000 people. The Markham, Ont.-based subsidiary of global computer giant IBM Corp. does much of its current business with larger companies.

The new technology centres will be developed in London, Ont., Calgary, and Toronto, with another planned for the Montreal area later this year and others in 2005.

Current employees will be reassigned to the centres, but the company will add new jobs if needed.

IBM Canada recently announced it is adding 1,200 new jobs to its workforce of about 20,000 people as the company expands its business.