Industry news

Ericsson, the world leader in telecommunications technology and service, has announced that it has reached an agreement with Providence Equity Partners, LLC and Warburg Pincus to acquire 100 percent of the shares of Telcordia, a global leader in the development of mobile, broadband and enterprise communications software and services, for USD 1.15 billion. Closing anticipated to Q4 2011 with full effect Q1 2012.

Hans Vestberg, President and CEO, Ericsson, says: "The importance of operations and business support systems will continue to grow as more and more devices are connected, services become mobile and new business models for mobile broadband are introduced. In this context, Telcordia brings very skilled people and knowledge, a large business in North America and other markets, as well as a good multi vendor product portfolio."

"We have global presence and scale, global services capabilities and superior knowledge about networks and network performance, as well as an already established position in the OSS/BSS space. It is a perfect fit," he adds.

HP has announced Wärtsilä Corporation of Finland, a leading power solutions provider to the global marine and energy markets, has signed a three-year outsourcing services agreement with two one-year extension options. HP will deliver information technology services to help Wärtsilä become even more productive servicing their customers in the 70 countries where it operates.

“Our customers depend on us to power the ships that sail the world’s seas and power plants that light up our world, a feat requiring tremendous operational innovation and efficiency,” said Esa Kivineva, chief information officer, Wärtsilä. “HP helps us remain on top of technology developments with an infrastructure that gives our team the flexibility they need to serve customers and sustain cost-effective growth.”

HP will continue providing a full scope of technology infrastructure outsourcing services enabled by the HP Best Shore global delivery model. Best Shore combines HP’s technology portfolio with global delivery expertise to give clients greater flexibility and cost efficiencies while minimizing risk.

Wärtsilä will continue to benefit from Data Center Services, which HP will deliver from HP data centers and customer’s global sites. HP will provide Server Management Services and monitoring from HP Best Shore delivery centers in Bangalore, India as well as Storage and Backup and Restore Services to ensure high availability of IT services and continuous reliable operations. HP will also provide Network Management Services to remotely manage and monitor the company’s LAN/WAN environment from the HP Best Shore delivery center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

In addition, HP will continue delivering Workplace Services for all of the company’s computing devices such as desktop and notebook PCs, handheld devices and printers. Wärtsilä will use HP Service Desk Services, Onsite Support Services and remote Desktop Management Services from HP Best Shore delivery centers in Bangalore, India.

A company owned by the Ministry of Defence today will launch a High Court lawsuit against the American giant 3M, claiming that it failed properly to market an innovative MRSA diagnostic invented by the MoD at its Porton Down research laboratories.

The MoD company, Ploughshare Innovations, and its financial partner, private equity firm Porton Capital, are claiming up to £41m from 3M for failing to ‘actively and diligently’ market their MRSA test, named BacLite. 3M denies liability and is defending the claim.

BacLite was a high-speed test which enabled hospitals to identify MRSA infections within five hours, compared to the more usual 48-hour test procedures. Originally discovered in the nineties at the MoD’s Porton Down research establishment in Wiltshire, it was subsequently approved by the UK health authorities and was first marketed to hospitals here in 2005.

Following early sales success in the UK, in 2007 3M bought BacLite and the company which the two partners had formed to market it, Acolyte, for an initial £10.4m. An earn-out clause in the contract meant that the partners could have been entitled to up to an additional £41m depending on BacLite’s sales between 2007 and 2009.

Ploughshare and Porton’s sales agreement with 3M committed the American group to develop and market BacLite to health authorities and hospitals in Europe, North America, and Australia. However, just over a year later 3M closed the business, following intervention by its chairman, CEO and President, British-born George Buckley.

The High Court lawsuit launched today will accuse 3M of deliberately allowing BacLite to fail commercially by starving it of competent staff and funds. Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that 3M mismanaged its application for regulatory approval for BacLite with the US health authorities, and failed to seek similar approval at all in other territories.

After a series of rumours and speculation, the Web-search giant Google officially confirmed that it has acquired the New York-based yield optimization firm, Admeld.

Google claimed that the acquisition of Admeld will help major publishers to make more money out of the rapidly changing and growing display ad landscape. The Admeld acquisition is a new step in Google's strategy to improve the display ad landscape.

Google and Admeld have refused to disclose the financial terms of the deal but it's believed that the deal may cost around $400 million. With this new move, Google expect to outclass Facebook and other new start-ups in the display ad market.

VMware, Inc., the global leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure, has announced its intention to acquire Digital Fuel, a leader in IT Financial and Business Management SaaS solutions. Digital Fuel’s solutions enable companies to plan, manage and optimize cost and value in the emerging world of cloud based dynamic IT. W

With this acquisition, VMware will enable enterprises to more effectively manage the business impact of IT environments, centralizing visibility of IT costs, integrating financial discipline into IT decisions, and delivering meaningful measurements and reports that drive engagement with the CFO and line of business stakeholders. Terms of the acquisition were not announced. The acquisition is scheduled to close in July 2011, subject to customary closing conditions.

"Cloud computing represents a fundamentally new model for IT, enabling enterprises to realize unprecedented gains in operational efficiency, while also understanding, managing and optimizing IT resources based on granular business metrics," said Boaz Chalamish, VP and General Manager, VMware.

"New levels of financial visibility and control in cloud environments will enable CIOs to engage with the CFO, line of business stakeholders and others around how IT investments translate to real business value. As an authority on helping organizations navigate the business operations of IT, Digital Fuel will add a significant capability to our portfolio, broadening beyond operational management to include business-centric capabilities."

Local council transforms print infrastructure to achieve cost savings of 30 per cent

Xerox will support BT to reduce Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council’s office printing costs by up to 30 per cent in a five-year, multi-million pound managed print service agreement.

The new managed print service will provide the council with a complete view of its office print environment, enabling it to take control of all costs and processes related to office output devices. Xerox and BT will work together to implement a print management strategy helping the council meet sustainability targets, increase efficiency and reduce costs.

The managed print service will be rolled out as part of ‘Transform Sandwell’, a 15-year partnership between Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council and BT to transform Sandwell’s IT infrastructure. Xerox will work with BT to integrate the managed print service into its broader IT service to ensure a seamless user experience.

The Xerox/BT programme includes the replacement of 1,500 printers with 150 new energy-saving multi-functional printers. The team will also introduce ‘follow-me’ printing, which will enable council staff to send a print job to any device on any floor of the council’s premises and release the job with a swipe card. This will ensure documents do not go unattended or unclaimed, helping improve efficiency and security as well as reducing waste.

Stuart Kellas, Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council’s finance director, said: “This initiative with Xerox and BT not only saves the council a significant amount of money straight away, but will ensure costs are controlled and managed over the lifetime of the agreement. The partnership’s joint expertise gives great confidence that our crucial cost-reduction, service and wider business objectives will be delivered.”

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has selected Dell's wholly-owned subsidiary, Perot Systems Government Services (PSGS), a unit of Dell Services, to provide a full scope of Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO) support services as well as hardware, enterprise, and software products.

The program will aid the commission in planning, directing, and overseeing the delivery of centralized and efficient information technology infrastructure and information management services. Under the 6-year, $252 million contract, Dell Services will operate, maintain and enhance a comprehensive, agency-wide IT infrastructure for the NRC's Office of Information Systems.

The core areas that Dell Services will provide support include: program management, Blackberry Support Services, Email and Messaging, File and Print, Personal Computing, Software License Management, Network Management, Remote Access, Integration and High Performance Computing. Additional services within the contract include: Computer Facilities Management, Data Center Systems Administration, management of the Nuclear Security Incident Response Operations Center, Wireless Communication, Information Assurance and Security, Technology Assessment and management of the Emergency Response Data System.

The expansion of Manchester's Metrolink tram network could generate £80m of work for engineering contractors.

The city's transport body, Transport for Greater Manchester, has published a tender document which details a framework agreement it plans to establish with up to 50 contractors.

The value of the work on offer will range from £35m to £80m over a four-year period.

Capgemini, one of the global leaders in consulting, IT services and outsourcing, has entered into exclusive negotiations with the funds managed by Apax Partners and the Prosodie management team with a view to acquiring Prosodie, the multi-channel services operator.

This acquisition would enable Capgemini to round out its services offer in the dynamic client-relationship solutions market. It would be a perfect fit for the Group’s growth strategy in new IT operating business models (NBM). This involves Capgemini building, alongside existing services, a proprietary solutions offer. In spite of the economic crisis, Prosodie has delivered steady organic growth and strongly increased its profits over the past four years.

The acquisition would be done based on an enterprise value of €382 million, including the cost of two recently-announced acquisitions, Internet-Fr in France and LevelIP in Italy. The transaction would be financed in cash from the Group’s net cash balance and would be accretive to net earnings per share from the first year.

Capgemini France and Prosodie are currently in the process of informing and consulting with employee representatives. Authorization will be sought from the French competition authorities. The transaction is expected to be finalized by the end of July.

HP Enterprise Services has announced Avista Corporation, a Washington-based public utility, has signed a seven-year technology and applications outsourcing renewal agreement to help with its ongoing transition into a digital utility.

As an HP client for almost two decades, Avista, which serves three western states, looks to HP to manage most of its major enterprise systems as well as its data center and workplace environments.

“Along with the rest of the utilities industry, we’re transforming ourselves with digital and smart grid technology while also keeping the lights on and gas flowing for our 359,000 electric and 319,000 natural gas customers,” said Jim Kensok, vice president and chief information officer, Avista. “HP partners with Avista applying its deep applications, technology and industry knowledge to further our digital journey while keeping an eye on managing costs.”

HP will continue to provide Applications Management Services for Avista’s enterprise applications portfolio, including its customer information and work management systems. Under the agreement, HP also will provide Applications Modernization Services that will help replace some of Avista’s custom applications, improving efficiency and creating a path for Avista to continue operating among the lowest cost utilities in the United States.