MCN Direct Newswire

Vol. 5 No. 34, 28 November 2006

This issue is sponsored by:

NCC, IBM and The UK Consulting Industry Report 2005/6

This issue news

1. Atos Origin wins £300m Scottish health contract
2. Detica thrives in first half
3. EDS buys SAP specialist consultancy
4. LogicaCMG secures £5m Galileo deals
5. Deloitte poaches partner from KPMG
6. Further information - feedback/pass on to a colleague/remove from mailing list

Sponsor

NCC

Benchmark of IT Spending 2006

The latest national survey of corporate IT spending by the National Computing Centre (NCC) shows the finance sector is bucking the trend with a spend level that outstrips other sectors, whilst the most in-demand technology is voice over internet protocol (VoIP). The NCC Benchmark of IT Spending 2006 is now available, revealing details of current and predicted expenditure up to 2008. For more information and to buy the reports, please click here.

Successful change management - 5th December, Manchester

TThis one-day NCC workshop is designed for those who need to create and manage change programmes when implementing IT systems. Delegates will gain an understanding of the business context driving change, and how to apply change management concepts. For more information and to book your place, please click here.

1. ATOS ORIGIN WINS £300m SCOTTISH HEALTH CONTRACT

An alliance led by Atos Origin has beaten EDS and Siemens Business Services to a £300 million contract to provide NHS Scotland with IT services for the next 11 years.

Atos Origin will earn £275 million of the total contract value, with its partners - BT, IBM and Sopra Newell & Budge - picking up the rest. The alliance will fulfil a wide spectrum of NHS requirements, including delivering large-scale complex IT projects, and Atos Origin will invest £7 million in a 17,000 sq ft data centre in Livingston.

Andy Kerr, Scotland's minister for health and community care, said: "Most health information is stored on paper files that are kept in different places. The services provided in the contract will help prepare the health service for the future and ensure that patient records are stored in a secure electronic environment. The data centre will enable access to patient information 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, adding a new dimension to the healthcare that can be provided to patients."

The IT services will be delivered from next April, and will build on services from a previous contract that Atos Origin took over when it acquired Schlumberger Sema in 2003.

2. DETICA THRIVES IN FIRST HALF

IT consulting and security specialist Detica Group has reported rising interim results, with its UK core business growing 55% and its US business making headway.

Detica increased pre-tax profit by 35% to £6.3 million, on revenue rising 57% to £68.3 million. It also completed two acquisitions in the six months to 30 September - ma partners, an international consulting business in the capital markets sector for £38.1 million, and Inforenz, an information forensics specialist, for up to £2.2 million.

Commenting on the results, Detica chief executive Tom Black said: "We are delighted with the performance of the group over the past six months. We continue to see healthy demand for our services across our markets and the outlook for the group therefore remains good."

Detica closed the first half with total headcount up 78% at 1,235, including 70 employees in the US. Its US business delivered revenue of £1.1 million, up from zero a year ago, while revenue from US clients, including work provided by Detica's UK national security unit, doubled to a total of £5.2 million.

Sponsor

IBM

White Paper - The Changing Role of the Mainframe in the Enterprise

Does the mainframe have an effective role to play in the emerging SOA (service oriented architecture) environment?

A series of new software products and strategies means that all IBM's major multi-platform software products are now available on the System z9 mainframe.

PMP asked five independent analysts to review these latest developments. To read their views and download the white paper please click here.

3. EDS BUYS SAP SPECIALIST CONSULTANCY

EDS has acquired a US SAP solutions provider and sold its own European global field services business, as it continues its strategy of growing core business and selling off non-core activities.

EDS has agreed to buy Texas-based Global Enterprise Management Solutions (Gems) for an undisclosed sum, adding 150 employees in Dallas, Germany and India to its SAP team. Gems provides solution development and implementation consultancy mainly to the IT services, assembly & manufacturing, logistics and transportation industries.

EDS vice president Mark Bilger commented: "The acquisition will allow greater speed to market for EDS' SAP enterprise software practice and transform EDS' SAP resources into a robust solutions-focused organisation."

Further down the value chain, EDS has sold its European global field services businesses - covering the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Iberia and the Netherlands - to Germany's a&o group. The sale transfers 3,000 EDS employees to a&o, bringing its headcount to 4,300 and extending its client base. The combined business will address the field services needs of service providers and global outsourcers, and offer IT service management and infrastructure services to corporate IT departments.

Michael Müller, a&o group managing director, commented: "With this entirely positive business transaction, a&o will become the market leader for technical services in Europe."

4. LOGICACMG SECURES £5m GALILEO DEALS

LogicaCMG has won three contracts worth £5 million to develop core software for the European Space Agency's Galileo satellite navigation system.

Two contracts cover the development of operational software for ground segments of the system, including the key safety-critical element of Galileo. The third contract involves building an integration and verification platform that will test critical and complex navigation processing.

Stuart Martin, director of space and satcoms at LogicaCMG, explained: "These contracts involve the hardware and software at the heart of the message broadcast by the Galileo satellites. Our systems will ensure that positioning information from Galileo will be accurate and reliable. Applications of Galileo data that are safety related will benefit from this reliability."

Sylvain Loddo, Galileo's ground segment and operations manager, added: "LogicaCMG proved to be a reliable supplier of safety-critical, software-intensive systems for the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (Egnos), the precursor to Galileo. We are pleased that its experience will now support the even more demanding Galileo facilities."

LogicaCMG has been working with Egnos and Galileo for over 10 years and is an experienced space contractor, supporting around a third of the world's operational satellites.

Sponsor

The UK Consulting Industry Report 2005/6

We are delighted to announce that the latest UK Consulting Industry Report from the Management Consultancies Association is now available. It is based on unique data and performance metrics unavailable elsewhere.

As a consultant, you need to understand which sectors represent the best consultancy opportunities, which service lines are growing, how operational metrics are changing and the outlook for your industry – this report will provide all of this information and more.

To purchase the report, published jointly by the MCA and PMP, or to obtain further information please click here, email: reports@pmp.co.uk or telephone 01494 732830.

Sponsored by Maconomy.

5. DELOITTE POACHES PARTNER FROM KPMG

Deloitte has appointed Chris Williams as a partner in its economic consulting group. He joins from KPMG, where he has been a partner for the past five years, and will work with clients from Deloitte's technology media and telecoms (TMT) practice.

Jolyon Barker, lead partner for Deloitte's TMT practice, commented: "Chris will bring considerable economic and industry experience to Deloitte's telecoms and media clients, providing insight as to how our clients may most appropriately respond to the economic and regulatory environment within which they operate."

Williams, an experienced advisor to the TMT sector on an international basis, added: "The unprecedented speed of change in the sector creates real challenges and opportunities for telecoms and media companies. Strong industry-focused economic analysis can aid strategic thinking and help companies respond to the regulatory and competition issues they face."

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Written by Sarah Underwood. Copyright 2012 PMP (UK) Ltd.