Vodafone to outsource to IBM

Vodafone Ireland is to outsource about 200 jobs to IBM as part of its plan to reduce staff numbers. The jobs will be transferred from the IT application development and maintenance services, reports ElectricNews.

No jobs are expected to be lost, although Vodafone did not want to comment further on the details of the deal, as it is negotiating the terms and conditions of the transfer.

Vodafone did, however, say: "We can confirm that all Vodafone staff affected will be offered roles either in Vodafone or IBM as part of the process."

Unisys has signed a six-year outsourcing contract with Elopak, and will provide the company with a comprehensive suite of IT services. The contract has an estimated value to Unisys of $18.6 million, reports Businesswire.

Unisys will provide outsourcing services to support more than 1 500 Elopak employees at 33 locations in 25 countries on five continents.

The services include service desk, desktop services, centralised and distributed systems management and data centre hosting.

While China has long been considered a hub for manufacturing and R&D, India has traditionally attracted the lion's share of the services and IT projects, reports Asia Times

But as China uses its infrastructure and cheaper labour, and expands its group of highly-qualified, English-speaking personnel, the dynamics are set to change.

According to a recent report by the market-intelligence firm IDC, total revenue from China's offshore software outsourcing market will grow fivefold over the next five years, and the compound annual growth rate of the market will reach nearly 38%.