West Australian state-owned electricity provider Horizon Power has opted against renewing its IT managed services deal with Fujitsu, instead handing the work to rival firm Empired under a three-year, $10 million contract.
In 2011, Horizon Power signed a three-year deal with Fujitsu, which saw the IT giant take over end-to-end infrastructure support for the electricity provider across the state.
The contract covered service desk; asset and configuration management; support for servers, storage, databases and networks; capacity management; and communications services like VoIP, meeting room technologies and email management.
End user device support was also covered under the deal.
But as the contract came to an end after three years, Horizon Power decided to look for a new partner, landing on Empired.
The pair have signed a three-year deal with a two-year extension option. Empired estimates the partnership will be worth $10 million over the life of the contract.
The ASX-listed IT solutions firm will provide managed services for all the electricity provider's IT infrastructure across the state, as well as service desk, security and management of end user devices.
It will also provide project services for the "enhancement and development" of Horizon Power's technology environment.
"We have been driving a major businss transformation program across our organisation over the past two years and this contract is a key part of our evolution," Horizon Power managing director Frank Tudor said in a statement.
Horizon Power's long-running business transformation includes the rollout of advanced metering infrastructure and accompanying systems, improving its use of data, and efforts to automate its workforce internally to improve efficiency.
It is also looking at disruptive technologies like solar and battery storage.
Empired already provides managed services to WA-owned energy provider Western Power after recently winning a $12 million contract with the utility.
Horizon Power services more than 100,000 residents and 10,000 businesses across Western Australia.
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