Ernst & Young sees green in e-business

Ernst & Young wants to turn Big Blue's e-business into some green.

The Big Five professional services firm is the latest to sign on to IBM's vision for e-commerce with today's deal to resell and install the firm's software for shared customers worldwide. The companies are targeting clients in financial services, insurance, and telecommunications industries.

The initiative falls into line with IBM's strategy to ally with IT services firms to make further headway into expanding vertical markets, where customers are planning to do business on the Web. Using IBM e-business software, clients can build a supply chain strategy that connects them to their suppliers and distributors.

As part of the deal, Ernst & Young will assign a team of 125 employees certified to deliver IBM e-business products, along with IBM's Tivoli Enterprise Management line, the DB2 products, MQSeries, WebSphere, IBM Net.Commerce, SecureWay, and LotusNotes and Domino.

Customer support will be provided from Tivoli and IBM e-business centers.