BWI: Charming Shoppes, Inc. Expands Partnership with Wipro and Signs Strategic Servicing Agreement

Press release from Business Wire India
Source: WIPRO
Tuesday, August 04, 2009 05:00 PM IST (11:30 AM GMT)
Editors: General: Consumer interest, Fashion, Lifestyle; Business: Advertising, PR & marketing, Business services, Clothing & accessories, Household & personal care products & services, Information technology, Retailers; Technology
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Charming Shoppes, Inc. Expands Partnership with Wipro and Signs Strategic Servicing Agreement


Bangalore, Karnataka, India, Tuesday, August 04, 2009 -- (Business Wire India) -- Wipro Technologies, the global IT services business of Wipro Limited (NYSE:WIT), today announced that it has entered into a five-year strategic agreement to provide Charming Shoppes, Inc. (Nasdaq: CHRS), a leading multi-brand specialty apparel retailer primarily focused on plus-size women's apparel, with end-to-end information technology services that include application management, remote infrastructure management and mainframe hosting. This partnership will be an integral component of Charming Shoppes' transformation journey to optimize IT spend and improve business agility.

Under the agreement, Wipro will be responsible for application management of the entire suite of applications encompassing stores, supply chain, merchandising, marketing and analytics, business intelligence and corporate systems. Wipro will provide hosting services from its state-of-the-art U.S.-based data centers and manage infrastructure using a robust ITIL-based service management framework including data center operations, network and security operations and performance management. These services will be delivered across stores, distribution centers and the corporate brand offices of Charming Shoppes.

During the term of the agreement, Wipro will work with Charming Shoppes to affect year-over-year improvements in performance and efficiency thereby providing stable, flexible and scalable IT platforms to help the retailer achieve business objectives, focus on core brands and increase cash flow. Charming Shoppes will maintain a viable ongoing IT operation in Bensalem and retain key retail business and technical expertise.

"As the leading provider of women's specialty plus apparel, our focus is on strengthening our brands and providing a superior customer experience." said Denis Gingue, Senior Vice President and CIO of Charming Shoppes, Inc. "We rely on IT as a critical enabler for our businesses - and strategic partnerships are critical to our future success. We selected Wipro because of their retail and fashion experience, technical competency in infrastructure and applications and their process discipline in IT operations."

"We will leverage our depth and best practices in infrastructure and application management and our experience in transforming Retail enterprises, to add value to Charming Shoppes." said Bhanu Murthy BM, Senior Vice President and Business Unit Global Head at Wipro. "Charming Shoppes is a strategic customer for us in the U.S and we are pleased to expand our relationship and assist them in business value creation and improving their operational effectiveness." said Manoj Punja, Wipro's Chief Sales and Operations Officer - Americas.

About Charming Shoppes, Inc.

Charming Shoppes, Inc. is a leading multi-brand specialty apparel retailer specializing primarily in women's plus-size apparel. Headquartered in Bensalem, PA., it is the parent company of three distinct plus apparel brands - Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug and Catherines Plus Sizes. With over 2,200 stores in 48 states and $2.5 billion in Fiscal 2009 annual sales, Charming Shoppes is the third-largest women's specialty apparel retailer in the United States as measured by store units. For additional information about Charming Shoppes, Inc., please visit www.charmingshoppes.com.

About Wipro

Wipro Technologies, a division of Wipro Limited (NYSE:WIT) is the first PCMM Level 5 and SEI CMM Level 5 certified global IT services organization. Wipro Technologies was recently assessed at Level 5 for CMMI V 1.2 across offshore and onsite development centers. Wipro is one of the largest product engineering and support service providers worldwide. Wipro provides comprehensive research and development services, IT solutions and services, including systems integration, information systems outsourcing, package implementation, software application management, and datacenter managed services to corporations globally.

In the Indian market, Wipro is a leader in providing IT solutions and services for the corporate segment in India, offering system integration, network integration, software solutions and IT services.

Wipro also has a profitable presence in niche market segments of consumer products and lighting. In the Asia-Pacific and Middle East markets, Wipro provides IT solutions and services for global corporations. Wipro's ADS' are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and its equity shares are listed in India on the Stock Exchange - Mumbai, and the National Stock Exchange.

For more information, please visit our website at www.wipro.com.

Forward-looking and Cautionary Statements

Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects are forward-looking statements, which involve a number of risks, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in our earnings, revenue and profits, our ability to generate and manage growth, intense competition in IT services, our ability to maintain our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which we make strategic investments, withdrawal of fiscal governmental incentives, political instability, war, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property, and general economic conditions affecting our business and industry. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. We may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by us or on our behalf.

Media Contacts:

India
Radhika Mahadevan
Wipro Technologies
+91 9945042603
radhika.mahadevan@wipro.com

Mangala Koti Singhal
Gutenberg Communications
+91 9686446789
mangala@gutenbergpr.com

US
Eric Belove
Wipro Technologies
+ 1 (732) 216 6242
eric.belove@wipro.com

Lavanya DJ
Gutenberg Communications
+ (212) 239 8740
lavanya@gutenbergpr.com

UK
Rahul Kadavakolu
Wipro Technologies
+44 792 020 5496
rahul.kadavakolu@wipro.com

Shalini Siromani
Gutenberg Communications
+44 79 6066 3200
shalini@gutenbergpr.com



KEYWORDS
CONSUMER, FASHION, LIFESTYLE, MARKETING, BUSINESS SERVICES, CLOTHING, HOUSEHOLD, IT, RETAIL, TECHNOLOGY, 507685.BO

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