easyJet outsources IT

Low-cost airline easyJet is outsourcing its IT infrastructure to services company Savvis.

The multimillion pound, five-year contract will see Savvis manage the airline's business critical IT operations by providing hosting and networking services.

easyJet said continuous availability and reliability are essential for its website, which generates 98 per cent of the company's business and at peak times can bring in up to £2m per hour.

Savvis will also provide IT architecture to support the airline's website, ticket reservation and flight operations systems. The airline said this more cost-efficient and flexible infrastructure will help it offer customers a lower price per seat.

The airline's head of IT services, Andy Caddy said the outsourcing deal will allow the company to "focus on our core business, providing our customers with safe, good value, point-to-point air services".

He added that the company will now be able to manage changes in demand more effectively and is looking to use future developments in utility computing to further reduce costs and improve efficiency.

With the current emphasis on disaster recovery, Savvis will also provide mirrored remote data centres - which can easily take over in the event of a main data systems' failure.

easyJet operates 111 aircraft between 76 airports in 21 countries. It carried more than 30 million passengers in 2005.

The exact value of the deal has not been disclosed.