IBM, Fukuoka Waterworks Team to Increase Availability of Drinking Water

FUKUOKA, Japan, Nov. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today
announced the Fukuoka District Waterworks Agency will use IBM software for a
new system designed to increase the availability of usable water supply and
improve water quality across eight cities, eight towns and Kasuga-Nakagawa
Waterworks Agency in Japan.

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

The demand for water in urban areas in Fukuoka, which has scarce water
resources, continues to increase year by year due to trends in population
centralization and increased urbanization. The agency provides municipal water
services that include transporting water from the Chikugo River to the
Ushikubi water treatment plant, which purifies water for drinking and
distributes water to reservoirs in eight cities, eight towns and
Kasuga-Nakagawa Waterworks Agency. The agency also manages the Seawater
Desalination Plant, which serves a population of 2.3 million residents in the
surrounding urban areas.

With the support of Nihon-Suiko, an engineering consulting firm, Fukuoka
District Waterworks Agency is developing an asset management system based on
IBM Maximo software. The system, scheduled to go live in April 2010, will
monitor the conditions of facilities assets at the water treatment plant and
the Seawater Desalination Center. Assets include electric equipment,
engineering and construction devices, pipelines and water pumps. Exa, an IBM
Business Partner, implemented the system.

IBM's smarter water management system gives Fukuoka District Waterworks
greater visibility into their maintenance operations and physical
infrastructure, with near real-time status of equipment and maintenance
history.

According to the maintenance management and renewal plan for the next 40
years, Fukuoka District Water Works Agency's efforts will reduce the estimated
cost for renewals and repairs by 125.6 billion yen compared to renewing the
facilitates based on standard lifecycles. In the future, the agency expects
this level of detailed, real-time asset management to reduce costs still
further.

"Water management is an issue faced by every business, city and government on
the planet," said Sharon Nunes, Vice President for Big Green Innovations at
IBM. "These issues can be understood and managed by collecting and analyzing
data, and IBM is applying expertise in smart systems and data analysis to help
companies like Fukuoka District Waterworks Agency more effectively deal with
these issues."

IBM has developed a number of smarter water offerings under its 'Big Green
Innovations' initiative, part of a $100 million investment in 10 new
businesses based on ideas generated during Innovation Jam, an IBM-led effort
to gather ideas from thousands of clients, employees and thought leaders
around the world. The Big Green Innovations team at IBM has concentrated its
efforts on water management, alternative energy and carbon management.

For more information on the Fukuoka District Waterworks Agency, visit:
http://www.f-suiki.or.jp/english/

For images, videos, and more information related to IBM and water, visit
http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/presskit/26906.wss.

For background information about IBM's efforts around building a Smart IT
Infrastructure, visit
http://www.ibm.com/ibm/ideasfromibm/us/smartplanet/topics/itinfrastructure/20081215/index.shtml?&re=spf

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Media Contacts:
Saeko Hibino (Japan)
IBM Media Relations
03-3808-5187
saekoh@jp.ibm.com

Libra White (US)
IBM Media Relations
408-404-6786
libra@us.ibm.com

SOURCE IBM

Saeko Hibino (Japan), IBM Media Relations, 03-3808-5187, saekoh@jp.ibm.com, or
Libra White (US), IBM Media Relations, +1-408-404-6786, libra@us.ibm.com