University seeks strategic IT supplier for £35m managed services deal

Nottingham University hunting IT provider for Oracle Campus Solutions

A university is on the hunt for an IT supplier to help reduce its reliance on hardware in a deal worth up to £35m.

In a recently published tender document, the University of Nottingham unveiled details of its Campus Solutions Managed Service contract, which will be worth between £18m and £35m over its seven-year life.

The lengthy nature of the contract is because the "planned product road map includes significant technical change over the next seven years", said the tender, adding that "the contract requires continuity of service to be economically viable".

The "strategic partner" will be required by the university to deliver a managed service for its Oracle Campus Solutions system -- a university-specific offering from the vendor.

The tender said the university wants to "eliminate as far as is possible the need to own both hardware and the supporting operating system environments [because it] reduces the need for capital to near zero".

In addition, the provider must offer a more scalable platform, with the ability to "throttle capacity up and down as business demand changes".

A clear and transparent cost model is also required by the supplier's offering, and it will be expected to provide a "more responsive" disaster recovery capability with a shorter recovery-to-operation time.