National JSE-listed IT group, Datacentrix, has been awarded a contract by the Greater Pretoria Metropolitan Council (GPMC) to maintain and support the Council`s IT infrastructure.
This follows the recent awarding of two tenders to Datacentrix from the Council, one for PCs and servers and the other for network equipment.
According to Roger Hughes, acting chief of Management Information Systems at the GPMC, the fact that Datacentrix knows and understands the site so well puts the company in a strong position to provide critical maintenance and support services.
"In addition, a lot of equipment bought under the last tender is still under warranty, so having a maintenance contract with the supplier makes it much easier to manage the site."
Hughes stresses that Datacentrix is providing a vital service for the council. "We have very few IT support people in the GPMC and it is essential to draw on the expertise and skills of a company like Datacentrix."
Hughes says that apart from essential maintenance, under the terms of the contract Datacentrix is also responsible to check Y2K compliance on all equipment.
Items covered by the contract include network equipment, about 200 PCs, and 15 servers.
On the applications side Datacentrix maintains a variety of equipment, according to Hughes, from Microsoft Exchange through to the integration of the Microsoft NT network.
Key factors in Datacentrix`s appointment, says Hughes, were its comprehensive support plan, high skills levels and acceptable empowerment initiatives targeted at previously disadvantaged employees.
Datacentrix services director, Dries van der Walt, explains that Datacentrix has resources full-time on site for the GPMC. He says there are built-in service levels to provide backup equipment on critical infrastructure.
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