EDS shouts about outsourcing Kraft

Kraft Foods has signed a seven-year, $1.7bn global IT services deal with EDS.

EDS will provide a range of services including data centres, hosting, telecommunications and workplace support services from 1 June.

Under the deal, EDS will assume responsibility for Kraft Foods' IT infrastructure and will manage desktop workstations and servers for more than 60,000 employees worldwide. Approximately 670 Kraft employees globally will move over to EDS.

Roger Deromedi, Kraft Foods CEO, said in a statement: "World-class information technology is critical to Kraft's long-term business success. Our strategy is to have the ideal mix of in-house and outsourced activities."

Kraft, the world's second-largest food and beverage company, has brands including Philadelphia cream cheeses, Maxwell House coffee and Oreos.

EDS said its partners, including Cisco, Dell, EMC and Microsoft collaborated on the contract and will play a "key role" in providing hardware and software solutions to Kraft.

The agreement with Kraft represents the largest contract in the consumer packaged goods sector that EDS has signed.

Steve Schuckenbrock, EDS' co-chief operating officer, said in a statement: "The new contract with Kraft is a testament to our global capability and capacity to deliver complex IT services."