Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council is
updating its IT infrastructure in a project that it hopes will
deliver cost savings of £1m over the next five years.
The council has signed a £2.1m, five-year contract with
Esteem Systems to install and manage an infrastructure based
largely on
Sun Microsystems technology. The deal includes architecture
design and implementation, the migration of applications to the new
platform, remote infrastructure monitoring, disaster recovery
provision and on-site support.
The council is hoping that efficiencies gained from the project,
which includes the roll-out of
Sun Solaris and Oracle systems, will reduce costs across
departments including children's services, health and social care,
and corporate resources.
Norman Keats, cabinet member for finance and information society
technologies at Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council, said, "We
are improving efficiency while also reducing costs, meaning
taxpayers in Knowsley will get better value for money."
Under the managed services agreement, Esteem's staff will
monitor systems remotely and provide around-the-clock support.
Keats said this would free council IT staff from routine
maintenance tasks, allowing them to focus on strategic
projects.
The use of Esteem's support staff and the supplier's partnership
with Sun Microsystems would also give Knowsley access to a level of
expertise that it was difficult to attain in-house, said the
council.
Other councils that have used Esteem Systems include the London
Borough of Havering,
Leicester City Council,
Bradford Metropolitan District Council, Worcester City Council
and
Powys County Council.
CRM saves
Knowsley £250,000 a year >>
Leicester lowers costs with self-service HR >>
Oracle >>
Esteem systems
>>
Sun Microsystems >>
Comment on this article:
computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk