IBM (NYSE: IBM), is adding a significant financing component to its already extensive efforts towards the development of smart, industry-leading technology solutions tied to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). IBM Global Financing, the lending and leasing business segment of IBM, is making up to $2 billion available to finance IT initiatives in key economic stimulus areas. The move will help US organizations move ahead with IT projects that could improve their infrastructure or competitive edge and point them in the direction of economic recovery.

Since the ARRA was signed into law by President Barack Obama, IBM ’s consulting and technology business units have been helping enterprises build out their infrastructures to spur growth in their communities around some of the key stimulus areas identified in the Act - Smart Grid, Health Information Technology and Broadband Access.

"In order to fast track our nation’s recovery, there needs to be an increased focus on public and private partnerships," said John Callies, general manager of IBM Global Financing. "This financing program is intended to help seed projects of the future that will improve citizen services and ultimately aid in our nation’s economic resurgence."

The bulk of the $2 billion in financing money for technology projects for credit-qualified clients will come in the form of:

• Enhanced low rates and flexible payment options.
• Deferred payment plans.
• Financing facilities that offer structured lines of credit.
• Specialized project financing packages that allow clients to align their payment streams throughout the course of the project to the anticipated benefits.

"As a direct consequence of capital market issues, IDC expects the worldwide IT leasing and financing market to exceed $100 billion in 2009, an increase of more than 10% on a declining base of IT sales," says Joseph Pucciarelli, IDC Research Director-Technology Financing Strategies. "IBM Global Financing is very well-positioned in this market with a sophisticated market-basket of products, services and capabilities. Mapping and applying their IT project financing skills to ARRA-related infrastructure projects will provide many of the same benefits IT buyers have enjoyed for years - faster time to market, funding flexibility and tailored repayment options."

Earlier this year, IBM Global Financing announced that it would respond to benefits that it as a company receives under ARRA by providing more competitive rates and payment deferrals on leases it provides to its clients. This financing will mainly target enterprises and municipalities looking to implement technology projects consisting of a majority portion of IBM hardware, software and technology services components. Financing also can be applied to non-IBM technology as part of a larger IBM solution.

IBM already is working with healthcare providers to develop smarter health systems. Health IT seeks to establish partnerships of stakeholders in order to deliver better care predict and prevent disease and empower individuals to make smarter choices. IBM and Mayo Clinic, for example, are leveraging IBM technology in an analytic data warehouse containing the clinical data for more than 6 million patients in IBM’s DB2 database system. Mayo Clinic researchers and physicians use this information to analyze individual patient data and compare medical records of patients, who present similar disease characteristics, in order to find new avenues for treatments and cures.

With energy providers, IBM is working to make US power grids smarter. Smart Grids provide consumers with information to understand their energy usage and take actions to reduce wasteful use and integrate renewable energy sources like solar and wind energy. IBM is working with clients in nearly 50 Smart Grid engagements around the world.

IBM is also working to help rural communities in the US access the wide array of societal-lifting initiatives like telemedicine, increased public safety and distance learning programs that can be achieved through broadband access. For example, IBM is working to build Broadband over power line (BPL) networks. The technology modifies radio signals to transmit voice and Internet data over electric utility power lines, and is ideal for rural areas where broadband access currently does not exist.

For more information on ways companies can access this special stimulus financing offer, visit www.ibm.com/financing/economicstimulus.

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