HALIFAX, Nov. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - Nova Scotia's knowledge economy is continuing to grow through a new venture between the province of Nova Scotia, IBM (NYSE: IBM), and a group of six Nova Scotia post-secondary institutions.

Together with the support of the Nova Scotia government and a consortium of 6 universities and colleges, IBM Canada will create its first-ever centre for application services delivery in Canada. IBM Canada will establish a Halifax-based Global Delivery Centre. The province through Nova Scotia Business Inc. is investing up to $12,240,000 in exchange of up to 500 new highly skilled jobs in Nova Scotia.

"Establishing a Global Delivery Centre in Canada has been on our radar for some time," said John Lutz, President, IBM Canada. "From talent and technology, a provincial partnership approach, and competitive business costs, there is no question that Nova Scotia will be key to our Global Delivery Centre's long-term success."

IBM will establish a new Canadian delivery centre for application services to be headquartered in Halifax. It is the first IBM centre of its kind in Canada. The new centre will become part of IBM's global network of delivery centres that span over three dozen countries, employing thousands of services professionals. As part of the IBM Global Delivery Centre, Nova Scotia IBM employees will have a local, national and global impact where they will offer a full range of application management and consulting services, to help solve business challenges.

"The use of business intelligence techniques to connect the power of data is becoming vital to the success of businesses and Nova Scotia has an opportunity to become a world leader in the field of data analytics," said Louie Velocci, Partner, Advisory Services, KPMG in Canada. "The province has the critical infrastructure and a highly educated skilled workforce. Focusing on this industry has the potential to make Nova Scotia the destination of choice for businesses and Canadians looking to better leverage data in an impactful way."

As part of IBM's commitment to Nova Scotia, it has also signed a memorandum of understanding with the group of six Nova Scotia universities and colleges.

"With this step today, we are setting ourselves apart from our competitors and raising us up to the highest level worldwide," said Stephen Lund, president and CEO, Nova Scotia Business Inc. "Our achievement is the result of partnership between government, industry, and universities and colleges. As a jurisdiction, Nova Scotia is innovative and open to learning new technologies."

IBM will collaborate with Dalhousie University, St. Mary's University, St. Francis Xavier, Acadia University, Cape Breton University and the Nova Scotia Community Colleges to educate students and recent graduates on analytics and application development techniques that will help to create a workforce prepared with the skills required for 21st Century jobs.

According to Statistics Canada, and in terms of real GDP, ICT in NS grew faster than any other province over the last five years (2011) while the province's capital city, Halifax was ranked as number one for operating costs when compared to key sector cities in Canada, the US and Europe in the Software Development sector according to KPMG Competitive Alternatives 2012

IBM's global delivery centre expertise spans over three dozen countries, serving thousands of clients worldwide. Establishment of the centre will help to unify application support and increase efficiencies for clients in Atlantic Canada, across the country and globally.  IBM has a set of integrated tools, processes and disciplines that will be transplanted to the new Canadian centre to deliver superior applications for clients.

For more information about IBM services in Canada, please visit: http://www-03.ibm.com/services/ca/en/

Nova Scotia Business Inc. is the province's private-sector-led business development agency. Through trade development, investment attraction, business financing and venture capital, NSBI assists local companies and attracts international companies to Nova Scotia.  For more information, visit  www.novascotiabusiness.com

SOURCE Nova Scotia Business Inc.