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IBM, Virgin Mobile USA partner for mobile services

Virgin Mobile USA Inc. and IBM signed a deal to collaborate on information technology operations and the development of new mobile applications and services.

The goal of the agreement is to enhance Virgin Mobile USA's technology capabilities and improve its product portfolio by leveraging IBM's telecommunications industry experience and IT resources. The deal will speed the integration of the mobile virtual network operator's recent acquisition of Helio and will allow Virgin Mobile USA to cut costs and to continue its growth strategy (see story).

"We've grown very quickly and we're going to continue to grow," said Jayne Wallace, spokeswoman for Virgin Mobile USA, Warren, NJ. "This will enhance our technology capabilities, impact internal infrastructure, help us start to integrate new data services and develop improvements for our handsets.

"Given our impending deal with Helio, it's even more important for us to have the resources that IBM's can provide," she said. "The agreement with IBM will make the whole integration process of Helio easier and give us that much more muscle in our IT area. This is taking our IT department and multiplying it by ten."

Per the deal, IBM will begin transitioning Virgin Mobile USA's existing IT infrastructure and application suite into its own environment.

The transition will be complete Dec. 31.

IBM will provide Virgin Mobile USA with data center outsourcing and application management services, such as maintenance and development of new wireless applications and service offerings.

"Our phones are not superphones, they're not BlackBerries and they're not iPhones, but we are going to add more data services that people are used to seeing on high-end handsets," Ms. Wallace said.

In late October, Virgin Mobile USA will launch its first broadband EVDO 4G phone with video streaming.

Ms. Wallace said this 4G phone is an example of the types of handsets with differentiated services that the IBM deal will let Virgin Mobile USA bring to market more quickly.

The agreement will ideally allow Virgin Mobile USA to leverage IBM's investments in mobile technology to deliver better applications to customers, bring new services to market more quickly and respond to market trends.

The company also plans to fund strategic initiatives to broaden its mobile offerings and accelerate its growth.

"We want to take advantage of the new technologies that are out there to provide handsets with a better user interface, faster applications, more optimized WAP sites, more services and more integration of Helio's location-based services," Ms. Wallace said.

"In the future, it will take us less time to develop such features," she said.