IBM India lands outsourcing deal

Vodafone Essar has signed an IT outsourcing agreement with IBM India, reports Business-Standard.

Under the five-year agreement, IBM India will assume responsibility for the management of all Vodafone Essar`s IT operations, with the exception of network service platforms.

IBM India will also manage internal IT services for Vodafone Essar, like data centre operations and the help desk, while supporting key areas like security and change programmes.

Augustus Asset Managers has signed a four-year IT infrastructure outsourcing deal with Savvis, worth about $7 million, to support business continuity of its critical IT infrastructure, Augustus said Monday, reports BizJournals.

The deal with Savvis will provide Augustus with trading systems, which are the `lifeblood` of the business.

Savvis will provide a managed network, consultancy and security services for Augustus and will host all of its business applications, including its trading, CRM, e-mail, risk, order management and finance systems.

IBM has announced a seven-year deal with Telstra to absorb the entirety of its logistics operation, reports IDM.

IBM has been responsible for Telstra`s logistics since September of last year, with the new seven-year deal being an extension of this initial contract and a major coup for Big Blue.

"The extension of the contract without any attempt to go through a further competitive tendering process is an expression of faith by Telstra, in IBM`s capacity to deliver following their observations of phase one over the past year." said Steve Hodgkinson, analyst at Ovum.