CC flies high with BAA services deal

Reseller wins five-year contract to service 10,000 desktops

Computacenter's services business received a huge boost last week when it won a £45m outsourcing contract with airport company BAA to provide desktop infrastructure and services.

The corporate reseller and infrastructure provider won the five-year contract to service 10,000 desktops from April, replacing agreements BAA had made with other suppliers.

It will be responsible for maintenance, installations, moves and changes as well as asset disposal.

The new deal builds on Computacenter's focus on its professional and managed services business, which had a combined annual growth of 29 per cent when the reseller reported its preliminary 2002 results earlier this month.

Computacenter's desktop services business in the UK is currently worth about £300m per year.

"Desktops have always been a core skill area of ours. We began offering maintenance on products which grew into managed services," said Mark Kenealy, commercial sector director at Computacenter.

Desktop services is an ideal area for the channel to add value because it requires a wide range of expertise, which many companies are unable to provide in-house, he added.

Kenealy claimed Computacenter's adaptability to the needs of its customers gives it an advantage. "We are more nimble than large global outsourcers and can be more flexible in what we offer," he said.

Richard Rundle, IT director at BAA, said Computacenter's ability to deliver cost control was a key benefit.

"By consolidating our desktop requirements into one end-to-end services contract, we expect to generate savings of about £1.6m per year, which represents a significant return on our investment," he said.