Joskos Solutions wins five-year schools ICT deal

Capital VAR ties up seven-figure Education London contract to provide and maintain tech for numerous schools

Joskos Solutions has tied up a seven-figure, multi-year deal to provide IT and services to all schools run by the Russell Education Trust (RET) and its sponsor organisation Education London.

The north London VAR has won the contract, which runs for four years with an optional one-year extension, following a tender process. The deal was awarded through the Department for Education ICT Services framework, where Joskos competes alongside channel players including Redstone, Misco, Viglen, XMA, RM and European Electronique.

One of the first schools to be opened by RET will be Becket Keys, which will open at the start of the next academic year. The Brentwood school will become the UK's only state-funded Church of England secondary school and the first secondary free school in Essex. The Becket Keys project is understood to be worth about £750,000 to Joskos.

RET senior adviser Colin Mackinlay said: "We are delighted that Joskos Solutions' proposal for Becket Keys fully met our needs within the competitive tendering process. This initial school will benefit enormously from the ICT infrastructure Joskos has proposed, and we look forward to working in partnership to deliver other free school solutions in the coming years."

There are already proposals involving a further three schools, with IT requirements of similar scope, to be rolled out next year. Nick Madhavji, managing director of Joskos, expressed his delight at winning the deal and promised "to provide ICT services and long-term service-led value" to RET and Education London schools.

"I am confident that the partnership will add genuine value and deliver outstanding results for the family of schools learners," he added. "The value Joskos brings to this partnership is best-of-breed technologies and solutions that are cutting edge but appropriate for education."