Equant trumpets outsourcing contract wins

Equant has this week announced two large network and IT outsourcing contracts, one with Universal Music Group (UMG), the other with Swedish medical equipment supplier Getinge.

The UMG deal is for five years and spans 48 countries where staff will use secure connections, via wi-fi, cellular or DSL connections when away from the office as well as over more traditional fixed-line local and wide area networks.

France Telecom-owned Equant will also handle managed voice, IP telephony, web hosting and vendor management for the world's largest music outfit, which also has a French parent.

The Getinge win spans IT services, such as a refresh of 5,000 PCs. In addition it covers security and more communications-related activities such as hosting, messaging, IP VPNs and voice, whether fixed or mobile.

Getinge CFO Ulf Grunander said the company is outsourcing all its IT with the exception of ERP - typically covering areas such as payroll, manufacturing and HR systems - to Equant.

A review and then planning of the changes began two years ago. Completion is expected by this autumn and the total contract length is seven years.

Neither contract's value was disclosed.