IBM to Provide £20 Million IT Transformation for the Insolvency Service

LONDON .- The Insolvency Service and IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a five-year contract worth approximately £20 million to transform the IT environment of the UK Government department that administers and investigates the affairs of bankrupts, companies and partnerships.
The Insolvency Service required a modern network infrastructure to equip their 2,750 employees to better manage a rapidly increasing caseload across 35 locations in the UK. It chose a complete managed service solution from IBM, utilizing IBM’s Virtual Infrastructure Access Services (VIA) technology to centralize the Insolvency Service’s IT applications. VIA was recently awarded a CCT Mark certificate by the CSIA, Cabinet Office, verifying the system has met the level of security required by the Insolvency Service and other UK Government departments.

The Insolvency Service aim is to transform itself into a world class operation and the new infrastructure will help to achieve this goal, enabling the department to be more responsive and handle cases with greater efficiency. The fully managed service will include the hosting of servers and applications at IBM data centers, and the provision of network and end user support. The service will also provide data backup and testing facilities for the operation.

“The solution enables us to better manage our IT costs and operate more efficiently,” explained Graham Horne, Acting Chief Executive of the Insolvency Service. “By moving from desktop and laptop systems to thin client hardware, we will be able to centrally manage our key applications, reduce our energy costs, and be able to more effectively plan, as we will know the exact cost of adding each new user. We chose IBM because of their unique ability to provide a complete end-to-end service. By using IBM’s secure Virtual Infrastructure Access Services thin client solution our caseworkers will be able to work as efficiently from home or remote locations as they can in an office, and eliminate the need to travel to offices simply to synchronise data. Furthermore it will allow us to offer flexible working arrangements to more of our staff.”

“Although well-established in the private sector, this is the first example of our advanced thin client solution being deployed by a government department,” added Mark Palmer, IBM Director for Civil Government. “It clearly demonstrates the Insolvency Service is taking ’Green IT’ seriously. The end-user devices are less expensive, use less energy to manufacture, operate and dispose of -- and because they have no moving parts are far more reliable with a longer life span.”

Work on the leading edge infrastructure solution is already underway. Signed in June 2007, the agreement strengthens the existing relationship between the Insolvency Service and IBM.