Whatever may be the condition of the global economy on account of the downturn, IBM has become successful in weathering the predicament. This triumphant stance of the company became more evident from the recent statement of IBM CEO Lou Gerstner who stated that the company performed well in light of a tough economy and affirmed emphatically the fact that Big Blue is delivering solid results when other tech companies “have been reporting huge revenue declines and vastly lower profits or losses for the first time in many years.”

Now there is a new success in the arsenal of IBM and it is going to shine in the realm of health care. The Big Blue has bagged a seven year deal with Kaiser Permanente, the well-known and integrated managed care organization, based in Oakland, California, worth $500 million and for that reason the health plan provider, from now on, will outsource tech work to IBM. What does this indicate? This makes one conclude that the Kaiser Permanente will shed 860 U.S.-based information technology positions. Can this ever be?

There is a great possibility (as there is hardy any other way), according to industry sources and it has also been learnt that Kaiser Permanente is set to lay off an additional 160 IT workers around the nation as part of an efficiency drive. Speaking on this Kaiser Permanente CIO Phil Fasano told, “This agreement, grown out of our long standing strategic relationship with IBM, will allow us to build on our leadership in health care technology,” and it is expected that the presence of IBM will make the operations more efficient.

What will be the main task of IBM? The deal calls for IBM to manage Kaiser Permanente’s data center operations, the bulk of which are located in California and Maryland. In addition, IBM will manage the health care company’s computing, storage, and related software needs. “IBM sees information-based medicine helping propel health care from its currently unconnected local and regional sectors into a borderless industry that spans the globe,” said Chris Nicoletti, IBM’s VP for health care and life sciences, in a statement.