P.M. BRIEFING : IBM to Manage Kodak Data System

International Business Machines Corp. will take over the management of most of Eastman Kodak Co.’s data-processing operations, the companies said today.

IBM will manage Kodak’s computers from a new data center at Kodak headquarters in Rochester, N.Y. The value of the deal for IBM was not disclosed.

The arrangement is intended to save money for Kodak, which said Monday that it would take a $225 million charge against second-quarter earnings and was disappointed with its operating results.

IBM approached Kodak with the proposal, said David E. McDowell, the president of IBM’s National Service Division. IBM has been trying to lessen its dependence on sales of computer hardware and software and instead become a “partner” with its customers, embedding itself deeply in their businesses.

The Kodak deal is by far the biggest yet in which IBM actually takes over the support for a company’s data-processing operation, McDowell said. As such, it could lead to other arrangements of similar magnitude.

The partners envision that IBM could eventually take over management of data processing at other centers in the United States that are excluded from the first phase as well as overseas locations, said Katherine M. Hudson, Kodak’s director of corporate information systems.