IBM Announces 2009 Rational Business Partner Award Winners

Business Partner Successes Highlighted at 12th Annual Rational Software
Conference

ORLANDO, Fla., June 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today
announced the winners of the 2009 IBM Rational Business Partner Awards at the
Rational Software Conference. These awards recognize IBM Business Partners
that have helped clients drive greater value from their investments in
software and improve software delivery. Winners were selected in five awards
categories spanning the IBM Rational software portfolio.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO )

The IBM Rational Business Partner community continues to grow, with more than
1,000 business partners that have re-sold and fulfilled IBM Rational software
products last year. At the same time, more than 75 Independent Software
Vendors (ISVs) have delivered more than 100 integrations of their products
with the IBM Rational portfolio of offerings through the Ready for IBM
Rational program, an increase of over 40% in the last year. Additionally, IBM
Rational Ensemble, a community for IBM business partners that provides ISVs,
resellers and systems integrators (SIs) with education and services for IBM
Jazz-based technology, has grown to encompass over 1,300 members worldwide, an
increase of over 800% since its inception a year ago.

With the rapid expansion of the IBM Rational Business Partner community, IBM
is rewarding and highlighting excellence in partner solutions which enable
clients to drive greater value from their investments in software and improve
software delivery. The award winners have proven that they demonstrate a deep
technology and industry expertise with IBM Rational software and are
delivering exceptional solutions that solve real business problems.

Chosen from several hundred eligible business partners, winners will be
honored during the IBM Rational Software Conference keynote session on
Wednesday, June 3. The 2009 IBM Rational Award winners by category are:

Outstanding Solution by an Independent Software Vendor (ISV) - Ravenflow

The Outstanding Solution by an Independent Software VendorAward recognizes
Ravenflow for excellence in developing an effective and innovative solution
that's enabled by IBM Rational Software. Ravenflow, a leader in Rapid
Requirements Definition, and their solution, Raven, empowers business analysts
to dramatically transform the way they elicit, specify, and validate
stakeholder requirements.

Sowre Consulting Espana, S.L. was selected as a finalist in this category.

Outstanding Collaborative ALM (Application Lifecycle Management) Solution by a
Systems Integrator (SI)Award - Accenture

The Outstanding Collaborative ALM (Application Lifecycle Management) Solution
by a Systems Integrator (SI)Award recognizes Accenture, a global management
consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, for excellence in the
implementation of effective and innovative customer solutions enabled by IBM
Rational Software. Designed for both small project teams (5-10 users) to large
project teams (600-1000 users), Accenture Delivery Tools provides a turnkey,
out-of-the-box solution for application lifecycle management.

Outstanding Quality Management Solution by a Systems Integrator (SI)Award -
Sogeti

The Outstanding Quality Management Solution by a Systems Integrator (SI)Award
recognizes Sogeti, a leading international provider of professional IT
services for excellence in the implementation of effective and innovative
customer solutions enabled by IBM Rational Software. Sogeti's Business Driven
Test Management approach integrates world-class Sogeti testing services and
structured methodology with industry-leading IBM Rational software for a
collaborative solution for quality software delivery that enables clients to
reduce software development costs, risks and time.

Outstanding Solution by a Value Added Reseller / Regional Systems Integrator -
Prolifics

The Outstanding Solution by a Value Added Reseller / Regional Systems
IntegratorAward recognizes Prolifics for excellence in implementing an
effective and innovative customer solution enabled by IBM Rational Software.
Prolifics, one of the largest end-to-end systems integrator specializing in
IBM technologies, is the winner for its RUP-based AgileSOA development
methodology, blueprint and assets utilized at customer, mBlox, for its SOA and
Portal initiative. This allows clients to streamline coordination of
activities across various development teams and vendors involved in the
process, enabling everyone to manage and understand tasks, roles, milestones
and see deliverables.

Praxis Engineering Technologies, Inc. was selected as a finalist in this
category.

Outstanding System-Focused Solution -- RocketGang

The Outstanding System-Focused Solution Award recognizes RocketGang for
excellence in developing an effective and innovative systems-focused solution
enabled by IBM Rational Software, including Telelogic products. RocketGang, a
provider of software engineering and consulting services & training in IBM
Rational and Telelogic products, wins this category for their team of experts.
Their offerings provide a spectrum of pre- and post-sales services designed to
help customers be successful with software delivery and dramatically benefit
from reduced expenses, improved productivity, and time savings from increased
efficiencies.

Top Marketing and Sales Rational Business Partner -- Ascendant Technology
(Atech)

The Top Marketing and Sales Rational Business Partner Award recognizes
Ascendant Technology (Atech) for excellence in the promotion and delivery of
Rational-based customer solutions as measured by their participation in IBM's
Software Value Incentive program (SVI) and Value Advantage Plus. Atech, an
end-to-end solution provider specializing in web-based solutions, wins this
category for their significant revenue contribution to Rational Software. As
a Reseller and Systems Integrator dedicated to IBM Software, Atech has
leveraged valuable IBM co-marketing funds to deliver Proof of Technology and
Business Value Assessments to close Rational sales and ensure clients realize
value with successful deployment.

Island Training Solutions was selected as a finalist in this category.

"The growth of the Rational Business Partner community demonstrates the
important role that these partners play in the overall success of IBM," said
Michael Loria, vice president, Business Development, IBM Rational Software.
"This year's Rational Award winners have demonstrated solutions which improve
the software delivery capabilities of our customers, and help them drive
greater value from their investments in software. We congratulate them on
being selected as a recipient of this year's Rational Awards and for achieving
this honor."

These IBM Rational Business Partner solutions result in quantifiable
improvements in business performance through their use of IBM Rational
software. Winners were determined based on criteria including the use of
multiple IBM Rational software solutions in the deployment of customer
applications, lists of references, and successful engagements including
business partner certifications. Consideration was also given to IBM Business
Partners who have actively engaged, participated and demonstrated opportunity
identification and ownership of small and medium-sized business opportunities
and new customers through the use of marketing and field activities, as well
as participated in IBM Rational sponsored events.

For more information about the IBM Rational Awards for Business Partners,
please visit: http://www.ibm.com/software/rational/rsdc/partners/awards.html.

For more information about IBM Rational business partner offerings and
solutions, please visit: http://www.ibm.com/software/rational/partners.

Contact
Faye Abloeser
IBM Communications
908-770-0762
abloeser@us.ibm.com

SOURCE IBM

Faye Abloeser of IBM Communications, +1-908-770-0762, abloeser@us.ibm.com