IBM comes home to outsource

India has been the primary location for technology outsourcing, but IBM is now looking to some unexpected destinations--Michigan and Iowa. Big Blue last week announced two new global service delivery centers in East Lansing, Mich., and Dubuque, Iowa. In East Lansing, IBM expects to create up to 1,500 direct and indirect jobs in five years, and it should employ 1,300 people in Dubuque within two years.

"Low cost is a factor in any decision, but the critical thing for us was the access to skills and the willingness of the local universities to cooperate with us and add to their curricula," Michael Daniels, senior vice-president of IBM Global Technology Services, told Business Week.

Could this be a new trend? Industry analysts expect more tech services companies to establish operations in low-cost parts of the U.S. in the coming months and years. "You'll see more of this. It won't be huge. But it will be a nice niche," says analyst John McCarthy of market researcher Forrester Research. "This is all about building out a global network."

For more on this new outsourcing trend:
- check out this BusinessWeek.com article

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