ANS snaps up multimillion-pound NHS deal

VAR to supply 12 new PCT-replacement bodies in three-year deal

ANS Group has cashed in on the NHS reform process, winning a multimillion-pound deal to supply a newly formed Manchester-based arm of the health service.

The Greater Manchester Commissioning Support Unit (CSU) provides support services to 12 new Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) which replace 10 ex-Primary Care Trusts in the area. The CSU was operational from last autumn, but was only formally opened on 1 April this year when NHS reforms took place.

At the time, resellers hoped the changes would benefit their businesses, with some hoping to win a wave of new contracts off the back of the overhaul.

ANS hopes to help CCGs meet their IT cost targets by reducing power and cooling to the datacentre as well as trimming IT maintenance time and cost.

The reseller, which is also based in the city, will install and support a private-cloud platform to the CSU in a three-year deal after beating four other firms who went to tender, in what the VAR described as a competitive fight.

FlexPod architecture will be the basis of ANS' "Infrastructure 3.0" datacentre technology, which offers a cloud platform for all the CCGs across the Greater Manchester area.

Paul Sweeney (pictured), managing director at ANS Group, said: "It is great to see Greater Manchester CSU leading the way as being one of the first CSUs in the UK to implement a unified-cloud platform.

"I expect this model will be emulated by many other CSUs and NHS bodies nationwide. It is also fantastic for ANS as a Manchester-based business to be involved in this project."