Bank of Ireland Gives IBM 5-Year IT Outsourcing Contract

Agreement to manage all IT infrastructure, formerly held by HP, reportedly worth $600 million.

IBM has won a five-year IT outsourcing contract said to be worth about $600 million from Bank of Ireland. Big Blue is taking the business from HP, which signed a seven-year contract with the bank in 2004. That agreement covered desktops, servers, printers and other communication networks.

Under the new contract, IBM will manage Bank of Ireland's desktop systems, servers, mainframes, local area networks and service desk.

"The signing of this contract marks the culmination of a lengthy process, during which Bank of Ireland assessed a number of potential service providers," according to Larry Kiernan, chief technology officer and head of group IT, Bank of Ireland. "We have now agreed a Group-wide solution for the provision of our IT infrastructure services and, under this agreement, will have access to a wide range of innovative IT solutions. We will continue to work closely with our existing provider, HP to ensure a smooth transition to IBM," he added.