Atlanta, Georgia, October 10, 2006 – IBS Software Services, an IBS Group company and a leading provider of IT solutions to the global travel, transportation and logistics industries has joined IBM’s 'ISV Advantage for Industries’ initiative, a program designed to provide independent solution vendors (ISVs) with technical and marketing support to help meet the specific needs of travel and transportation companies. Customers are seeking industry-specific solutions that help them better integrate processes and applications, which will allow them to quickly respond to changing market opportunities.

Under this agreement, IBM and IBS will work together to promote, implement, and operate the iCargo system for airline customers. A total cargo logistics management system, iCargo has the functionality to fully support the requirements of all players in the logistics chain from shipper to consignee in all aspects of cargo logistics. Release 1.0 of iCargo addressed the core processes of cargo reservations, capacity control, rating, load planning and consignment tracking while Release 2.0 will offer the GHA functionality.

IBS iCargo will be enabled on IBM’s WebSphere Application Server on AIX, WebSphere MQ and DB2 Universal Database middleware platforms.

"We are delighted to have IBM team with IBS to bring the advantages of iCargo to passenger and cargo airlines. This agreement further reinforces our vision towards making iCargo the industry leader and standard for the future" said Larry Mays, Senior Vice President, Cargo Line of Business (Worldwide) - IBS Software Services.

The ISV Advantage for Industries program provides extended benefits for select global industry ISVs adopting IBM’s solutions and committing to go to market with IBM for a majority of their business. IBM’s ISV Advantage for Industries provides a growth path for ISVs who want a deeper relationship with IBM.

"We look forward to working closely with IBS to deliver customized air cargo solutions for the Travel and Transportation industry", said Raul A. Arce, Vice President - IBM Travel and Transportation Industry. "IBS iCargo’ industry leading applications, coupled with IBM’s open and integrated middleware platform provides comprehensive solutions that cargo and logistics customers demand today. Companies in this competitive industry are seeking solutions to help them better integrate processes and applications to quickly respond to changing market opportunities."

ISV Advantage for Industries is administered by IBM’s PartnerWorld, the developer resource for IBM Business Partners. It is a worldwide program designed to help software developers reach broader markets, lower their costs of doing business, and take their products to market faster.