OREANDA-NEWS. IBM (NYSE: IBM) has signed a five-year IT services agreement including cloud, mobile, analytics and security technologies with Columbia Pipeline Group, Inc. (NYSE: CPGX) supporting the company’s continued growth as an independent energy company.

On July 1, CPG completed the separation of its natural gas pipeline, midstream and storage business from energy infrastructure company NiSource Inc. As a stand-alone, publicly traded company, CPG is rapidly expanding its operations to serve new and existing customers and markets, with net asset investments expected to grow from about \\$4.6 billion in 2015 to about \\$13.5 billion by 2020.

Under a technology agreement valued at \\$180 million, IBM will deliver a range of services to provide the technology infrastructure CPG needs to operate as an autonomous business and support its growth plans.

“IBM has been a long-time technology partner for NiSource, providing solutions and services that have helped that company become an energy leader in the U.S.,” said Bob Skaggs, CEO for CPG. “As an independent business, we are counting on IBM to help provide the continued strong enterprise technology support CPG needs.”

The agreement calls for IBM to move CPG’s IT infrastructure and business applications -- including human resources, billing and finance, pipeline operations and IT management -- from NiSource’s data centers into a private cloud in an IBM data center in Columbus, Ohio. IBM also will separate CPG’s networks from NiSource and manage CPG’s integrated IT environment going forward. The solution includes the core data center and IBM Cloud infrastructure, network services, help desk, end user services, intelligent security platforms, mobile device management, and operational analytics.

"As a premier energy company executing on a significant infrastructure investment program, CPG requires an enterprise technology strategy that's as forward-thinking and progressive as its business strategy," said Philip Guido, general manager, IBM Global Technology Services, North America. “Employing an IT model incorporating advanced cloud, mobile, analytics and security technologies and services from IBM will effectively support that vision and help provide a path for ongoing success at CPG.”

The solution will include IBM’s QRadar Security Intelligence Platform, providing a unified architecture for integrating security information and event management, log management, anomaly detection, incident forensics and configuration and vulnerability management. These products offer advanced threat detection, greater ease of use and lower total cost of ownership.

About Columbia Pipeline Group
CPG operates approximately 15,000 miles of strategically located interstate pipeline, gathering and processing assets extending from New York to the Gulf of Mexico, including an extensive footprint in the Marcellus and Utica Shale production areas. CPG also operates one of the nation's largest underground natural gas storage systems.