BT expands UK govt deal

BT Global Services has been awarded a three-year contract extension with the UK Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) for continued phone and Internet service, reports ITPro.

The £237 million (R2.8 billion) deal with the government is built on the previous deal signed in December 2005, worth £870 million (R10.4 billion). The DWP's contact centres field more than 400 000 calls per day, making it one of the largest contact centre infrastructures in the world.

The contract will increase the existing 22 000 virtual contact centre seats to 30 000 seats.

Polycom has unveiled tighter integration of its video conferencing systems with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Exchange e-mail server, and Polycom has also introduced a 42-inch all-in-one HD video conferencing solution, writes Channel Insider.

The moves come as Polycom has sharpened its focus on tighter integration with other vendor partners for video conferencing and unified communications to compete against rivals Cisco/Tandberg and Logitech/LifeSize.

Cisco acquired video conferencing player Tandberg, and Logitech acquired video conferencing upstart LifeSize, both late last year.

Garlands Call Centres has unveiled a hosted technology division to address the growing demand for hosted contact centre services, states ContactCentres.com.

Named The Hosting Company, the new division supplies a comprehensive suite of network-delivered technology services that delivers everything an organisation needs to run a modern contact centre but without the need to purchase technology hardware or software.

Services are charged for by Garlands on a monthly pay-as-you-use basis, with minimal or zero capital expenditure and maintenance or support costs involved.