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9 July 2003 - Dutch utility Essent has signed a major outsourcing contract with IBM for managing office automation and its data centres in the Netherlands, it was announced Tuesday.
As part of the contract, IBM is to equip the desktops with the latest IBM desktop technology. The Essent data centres will be further optimized and consolidated. The partnership with IBM for outsourcing the management of these activities will enable Essent to concentrate on its core activities.
The outsourcing comprises not only taking over the management of the existing office automation activities, including the associated networks, but also bringing about a complete transformation of this activity within one year. The extensive standardization of infrastructure, hardware and software, based on a uniform work position architecture, is to be combined with advanced solutions from IBM, which deliver significant cost savings together with an improvement in reliability and flexibility.
Essent's current consolidation and standardization of computer centres will continue, including modifying and modernizing the existing network infrastructure. These measures allow Essent to handle the large increase in
internal and external electronic message traffic that is expected as energy market liberalization progresses.
The agreement covers a period of four years. Approximately 200 internal and external staff will make the transition from Essent to IBM. The terms of employment offered by IBM weighed heavily alongside the technological and economic benefits in the selection of IBM as Essent's IT partner.
The selection followed an extensive European tendering procedure. Office automation including the management of the networks was put out to tender separately from data centre management, but IBM came out on top in both cases. Essent Kabelcom will continue to act as the supplier of the networks
that IBM will manage.
Essent's main markets are in the south and north east of the Netherlands. It operates in the energy, cable television/telecommunication and environment/waste sectors. Essent is market leader in the Dutch energy market, and also has subsidiaries in Germany and Belgium. In the energy market Essent has 2.6 million customers. Essent is the second largest cable television operator in the Netherlands and has a 23 per cent share of the waste market.
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