IBM seeks to tempt UK enterprises into jumping ship

IBM hopes to woo firms with competitive leasing rates and payment deferrals

IBM has launched a migration plan to lure customers away from HP and Oracle.

The company said that the campaign would target UK enterprises and would focus on pushing the IBM Power server line.

Under the terms of the programme, some companies will be able to defer payments on IBM Power servers until 2011 when migrating from HP or Oracle server hardware. Additionally, the plan will allow companies to better manage and plan out monthly payments.

IBM said that it has been running a similar plan in the US for about one month. The company said that in the past six months it has performed some 500 migrations to its server platform, and over the past four years has poached some 2,600 new clients from competing vendors.

"Competitive leasing rates and payment deferrals will make it easy for UK businesses to migrate to IBM's new workload-optimised systems," said IBM UK and Ireland global finance and general business sales manager Richard Bingham.

"Customers can then rest assured that they have the solid backing of IBM’s continuing investment in R&D for the IBM Power line, a well-defined roadmap and the upgrade flexibility they need to keep their business growing."

IBM's push comes amid a time of corporate turmoil for both Oracle and HP. The resignation and defection of former chief executive Mark Hurd from HP to Oracle as well as the appointment of Leo Apotheker as Hurd's replacement has drawn the two firms into a public war of words.