INTERNATIONAL computer hardware and software manufacturer IBM slammed the Government Service Insurance System's (GSIS) accusations blaming the company for the failure of its multi-million Integrated Loans, Membership, Acquired Assets and Accounts Management System (Ilmaaams).

Ilmaaams is a computerization system entered into by the GSIS with IBM for a reported amount of P80 million for its software and hardware.

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In an official statement, IBM said that it "feels compelled to issue a clarification of the key facts that have been omitted from the public statements made by the GSIS."

In a press briefing Friday, GSIS senior vice president Josefina Valera said the recent slowdown experienced in the processing of transactions with the GSIS throughout the country is due to the crash of the IBM software dubbed as the IBM-DB2.

The press briefing was intended to clarify issues hounding GSIS, particularly the slowdown in the processing of transactions.

Further explained by lawyer Orlando Polinar of the GSIS legal department, the crash was worsened by the alleged delay in the reaction of IBM despite the numerous correspondences sent by the government-run insurance company.

"The crash happened in March 30, 2009, but IBM only responded 45 days later, on May 15," Polinar said.

An email from IBM sent to Sun.Star Davao refuted the allegations made by GSIS against the company.

"The fact is that IBM provided assistance to GSIS as soon as we were notified. Out of goodwill, IBM Philippines provided a database specialist to work with Questronix, the systems integrator for Ilmaaams. Through SAP, the IBM Toronto Lab provided technical solutions (special builds) on May 15 and May 21 to address the issues related to GSIS' database management," IBM's official statement said.

IBM also refuted the allegations that their laboratories in Canada admitted the company has installed flawed database management software.

"IBM Laboratories in Canada did not make such an admission. IBM did not supply, design and install the system. Under an SAP/DB2 OEM arrangement, all customers receive one-stop service through SAP. Behind the scenes, the IBM Toronto Lab is fully integrated into the SAP services process. The special builds were provided to GSIS through this arrangement even without maintenance support agreements between SAP and GSIS, as part of SAP and IBM's commitment to help resolve the issues faced by the GSIS," IBM clarified.

With the crash of the IBM DB2, transactions with the GSIS, which would usually take a course of three-day processing, will now have to be processed for two weeks, Polinar said.

IBM maintains that it has not entered into any agreement or contract with GSIS in the supply, design, or installation of the Ilmaaams.

"The overall stability of the Ilmaaams will continue to be in question until the GSIS takes steps to address the many issues impacting the system, a fact communicated to the GSIS by Questronix in correspondence dated May 15 and May 28. According to Questronix, the stability of Ilmaaams remains at risk until the GSIS takes steps which include the institution of appropriate backup and recovery procedures; the conduct of appropriate performance testing and tuning in accordance with industry practice; and having certified personnel to manage the complex systems on a regular basis.

In addition, IBM believes that it will be essential for the GSIS to have appropriate support and maintenance arrangements to ensure availability of the Ilmaaams.

GSIS is now mulling its transfer to an Oracle operated database system.

"We will migrate to Oracle from IBM, and it will take us about four to five months for our operations to normalize," Polinar said.

Multi-million lawsuits have been filed by both camps against each other, which are now pending before the courts.