Two Bermuda businesses have joined together to bring extensive information management products and services to the local market.

Information management company Transact Business Solutions (Bermuda) Ltd. (TBS) has aligned with IBM in Bermuda to offer services that enable the capture, organisation and retrieval of electronic document content. By becoming an IBM Partner, TBS ? which is not affiliated with Bermuda ISP Transact Internet Services ? will have access to IBM's extensive array of information management products and services.

The parties involved said this will augment TBS's own browser-based toolkit which enables organisations to create and maintain organised document repositories for efficient access to corporate information.

This service will now be offered locally through IBM's Bermuda Agent, BCS (Bermuda Computer Services) Agencies Ltd. Delivery of service will remain unchanged, and service contracts will now be delivered through BCS and IBM World Trade Corporation.

TBS also offers outsourced services for the scanning, imaging, verification and indexing of paper documents and archives. These services in addition to its 'Web.Doc' software continue to be made available to the local firm by way of license from the UK affiliate.

Stephen Rolls-King, managing director, Transact Business Solutions (UK) Ltd., who was on the Island last week to oversee developments, said: "This new relationship with BCS/IBM in Bermuda is sure to strengthen the depth and reach of the TBS Bermuda franchise. We are very pleased to enter into this agreement and look forward to supporting the new venture".

Aaron Smith, managing director of IBM's Bermuda Agent, BCS Agencies Ltd. said: "BCS/IBM is very much in the services and solutions business. Partnerships such as this will allow us to better deliver the value-added solutions that our Bermuda-based customers are demanding".

Danny Dunlop who has been running TBS in Bermuda for the past five years now joins BCS as the new sales and services manager. He remains the main contact for TBS and can be reached through the companies shared office location at BCS in the IBM Partners Building on Dundonald Street in Hamilton.

TBS has been operating in Bermuda for more than five years. IBM is the world's largest information technology (IT) consulting company, with its services offered locally through BCS.