Throughout 2007 IBM Australia grew three times faster than the local market and in the final quarter inked multi million dollar outsourcing contracts with the National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank, and the Queensland government.

All of these deals were signed in the fourth quarter of 2007, a year that saw IBM Australia achieve double digit revenue growth.

Announcing details of the new deals, IBM Australia managing director, Glen Boreham, said these wins reflect the strength of the local economy.

"It also demonstrates the need for Australian organisations to find creative ways to address skills shortages, given the lowest unemployment rate in more than 30 years," he said.

"Globalisation is providing opportunities for Australian organisations to tap into additional resources to grow and transform their organisations.

"As a result, the concept of the Globally Integrated Enterprise is resonating strongly with our clients, demonstrated by the strong double digit revenue growth of our local business throughout 2007.

"We're growing more than three times as fast as the market overall because we've proven our ability to effectively integrate local and global capability to help our clients succeed."

The first deal announced by IBM Australia was a multi-million dollar, three year outsourcing agreement with the National Australia Bank (NAB)

Under the agreement, IBM will take over management of NAB's desktop and service desk IT infrastructure, help desk and desktop support for 28,000 users at the majority of NAB sites within Australia. IBM's support will also underpin NAB's new desktop architecture, known as the Australian Regional Desktop Technology Platform (ARDTP). IBM's service model is tailored to this new architecture, which aims to provide significant gains to NAB in terms of cost efficiency.

Following a thorough technology review, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has selected IBM to join its multi-vendor application services panel for the delivery of application and management services.

The final deal with the state government in Queensland is a four year agreement and is part of its Shared Service Initiative.

IBM will implement a range of business solutions as part of the Shared Services model which is designed to reduce duplication by developing common business processes, consolidate systems and roll out more efficient finance and human resource systems that support the operations of each department.

It includes a finance suite (based on SAP), and a human resources suite. IBM consultants will deliver a range of services including application development and testing, training and change management.