MUMBAI: Mexican multiplex chain Cinepolis has signed a three year IT services deal with IBM for its operations in India.

The deal will involve IBM deploying, managing and supporting a scalable IT infrastructure essential for Cinepolis’ roll-out plans in the country.

IBM’s Store Roll Out solution will allow Cinepolis to control operating expenses as well as to swiftly develop and deploy new customer facing applications. Cinepolis is aiming to open 500 screens in India by 2016. Of this, the company plans to make 130 screens live in eight cities over next three years. IBM’s IT solutions will power Cinepolis operations at each of these sites.

IBM India and South Asia territory executive – North & East, general business Vivek Malhotra said, "This is a very strategic win for IBM in the media and entertainment space. Accelerating time to market and reducing operational complexity for Cinepolis will be the key focus areas for IBM in this engagement. Our industry experience and domestic market know-how will help a global leader like Cinepolis achieve success in the Indian market by focusing on its core business – cinemas."

Cinepolis India head exhibition Ashish Shukla added, "Cinepolis endeavors to look for best in class solutions across all functional and technical areas and IBM was the ideal strategic technology partner for us. Through this alliance, Cinepolis has extended its access to current and future technologies essential for establishing and expanding our business. With technology increasingly underpinning business growth, we are confident that our partnership with IBM will enable us to continue to provide differentiated services to customers."