IBM Does On-Demand Deal With Target update from January 2004

IBM Wednesday announced it had struck a 10-year deal with trendy mass merchandiser Target to manage its mainframe infrastructure using an on-demand approach where the giant retailer will pay only for the computing horsepower it uses.

Although terms of the agreement weren't made public, it comes at the end of a year where Big Blue has made similar on-demand-priced deals with companies that include John Hancock ($254 million), ING ($600 million), and Equifax ($400 million).

IBM's z990 mainframe, which features on-demand capabilities such as On/Off Capacity on Demand, will be the core of Target's mainframe system, said IBM. On/Off lets customers temporarily power up additional mainframe engines as needed, a key component of the on-demand concept, which touts a pay-as-you-go pricing model.