On December 5, IBM announced that the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation has chosen IBM, eOneGroup and Linux for its new e-business infrastructure, as the company works to expand its presence among thousands of US specialty retailers, as well as for its worldwide manufacturing facilities and employees.

Tommy Hilfiger selected technologies from IBM, including IBM eServer products running Linux, DB2 Universal Database, Java and eOneGroup's suite of software products to create a new B2B portal (tommyb2b.com). The portal allows Tommy Hilfiger's specialty retailers and sales force to view selected core and seasonal apparel products, such as jeans and other basic, available inventory, in real-time, as well as place, track and ship orders. The infrastructure also includes a business-to-plant web site that links Tommy Hilfiger's production facilities around the world, which is expected to speed design-to-product time and significantly decrease costs. A virtual employee store that allows, for the first time, Tommy Hilfiger personnel to shop on-line around the clock is also available.

The web infrastructure, designed and built by IBM business partner eOneGroup, includes IBM eServer xSeries servers running Linux to handle web-based transactions, integrated on-line with IBM eServer iSeries servers running Java that are tied to existing wholesale and warehouse management systems.

"We identified an increasing demand for our products among mid-market specialty retailers, and IBM and eOneGroup delivered the technologies and expertise we needed to reach this growing market segment", said Brent Findon, vice president of system development at Tommy Hilfiger. "In addition, by integrating these new web portals with our existing back-end systems, we saved significantly on the time and expense of deploying this total infrastructure."

"IBM's server interoperability and application flexibility enabled us to reach Tommy Hilfiger's goals of lower costs and increased revenue", said Dan Watson, president of eOneGroup. "The manufacturing portal and employee store are expected to produce substantial cost savings, and tommyb2b.com has already proved productive and efficient for specialty store retailers with limited travel budgets."

"Tommy Hilfiger needed a solution that provided the performance and reliability necessary to win in the tough retail marketplace", said Buell Duncan, general manager of IBM's mid-market servers. "With our IBM business partner eOneGroup, we are committed to helping Tommy Hilfiger grow into new markets with its powerful e-business infrastructure."