Unisys gets $56 million Minneapolis IT contract

Unisys Corp. won a seven-year, $56 million contract from Minneapolis to provide outsourcing services to support the city's IT infrastructure, the company announced Jan. 7.

Under the contract, Unisys of Blue Bell, Pa., will provide network, systems, database and data center administration, monitoring and management, disaster recovery services and technology refresh.

The company will manage and support about 2,700 desktops, in addition to 100 servers, providing services that include service desk, software support and remedial maintenance for desktop and laptop systems, personal digital assistants and peripherals.

The city also will receive new hardware, including laptops, desktops, PDAs, severs and storage equipment.

The IT outsourcing contract supports multiple city agencies, including the mayor's office, city council, fire, police and public works departments.

The contract is expected to save the city up to $20 million in ongoing technology infrastructure and support costs, the company said. The decision to outsource its IT infrastructure will allow the city to contain costs, increase service levels, leverage economies of scale and gain access to additional skills and resources, said Paul Ostrow, president of the Minneapolis City Council.

Under the terms of the agreement, Unisys will offer jobs to IT personnel currently employed by the city who are affected by the outsourcing initiative, the company said.

Unisys has about 38,900 employees and annual revenue of $6 billion, according to Hoover's Online of Austin, Texas.