Scottish Power expands server infrastructure with help from Computacenter Scotland

Scottish Power is upgrading its server estate to cope with a series of new IT initiatives. Over the next three years, the company will invest in excess of £5million on expanding and refreshing its Unix server estate to cope with a range of projects, such as enhancing its disaster recovery provision.

The expansion will be aided by Computacenter Scotland, which will be helping the energy giant scope out its Unix server requirements as part of a new three-year contract.

Dennis Barr, Commercial and Procurement Manager for IT Business Services, commented: “Our Unix servers are a key part of our IT infrastructure, and underpin many business-critical applications, such as email and data aggregation, and support our trading links. The availability of the servers is fundamental to business continuity, so it is important we work with a partner that understands the challenges involved with managing and integrating Unix servers.”

Under the contract, which runs until May 2007, Computacenter Scotland will help Scottish Power source and configure a range of Unix servers. “We will be looking to Computacenter to help us match the right servers with the requirements of different applications and our business needs,” added Barr.

This latest contract sees Computacenter extending its existing desktop-focused relationship with the energy company, which has more than four million retail electricity and gas customers in the UK.

Andy Purvis, Director of Computacenter Scotland, commented: “We have a long-standing relationship with Scottish Power, and this contract will enable us to apply many of the best practice processes already being used for desktops to a critical area of its IT infrastructure. The contract will not only able Scottish Power to source new servers at competitive prices, but also draw on our infrastructure integration services and skills as required.”

Scottish Power, which currently has nearly 400 Unix servers based at its headquarters in Glasgow, awarded the contract to Computacenter Scotland after a competitive tendering process involving other existing IT partners.

“Computacenter has shown a clear commitment to helping us – and other customers – address business needs and challenges. Initiatives, such as the Solutions Centre, demonstrate its willingness to invest money and resources to help businesses optimise their use of IT,” commented Barr. “We were also very confident that the account team had the necessary technical skills to help us make the right decisions for the future development of our Unix server infrastructure.”

The Solutions Centre is an independent testing facility that enables organisations to evaluate their technology choices in a risk-free environment.