Mancunian VAR ANS Group has won a multi-year deal with Bolton Wanderers Football Club to revamp the team's IT infrastructure.

The reseller has been tasked with providing a virtual IT environment that is agile and secure and the first stage of the rollout will see ANS address risk management. The Premier League outfit is looking for a system durable enough to withstand intense match day usage, with disaster recovery plans in place to minimise disruption should something go wrong.

Paul Sweeney, managing director at ANS, said: “Risk management is essential for businesses that have such a narrow window in which to process sales. It is imperative that for the 90-minute match all systems are working efficiently with no downtime.

"Any IT problems will have an immediate impact on the club’s revenue as well as its expectation for faultless customer service. ANS Group will install a virtual system that will eliminate this risk and ensure that the organisation has a platform from which to grow over the next few years.”

The Reebok Stadium-based club, which grew revenue by 16 per cent to £59.1m last year, has also opted to install a virtualisation system. ANS has been tasked with enabling Bolton to drastically reduce the number of physical servers it uses, allowing the club to reduce costs and its carbon footprint.

Bolton Wanderers IT director Dave Atkinson said: "The financial and environmental benefits of virtualisation are very important, especially during the current economic downturn, when every business should be considering how its IT infrastructure can help reduce costs.

"However, of equal importance to Bolton Wanderers is the increased risk management service offered by virtualisation, which is vital for both the club and our supporters."