Unisys inks Minneapolis emergency dispatch outsourcing deal

Minneapolis officials can devote less time to maintaining their computer-dispatch system and more time on their core mission of saving lives as a result of a new services deal signed with systems integrator Unisys Corp.

Blue Bell, Pa.-based Unisys announced this week that it had won a contract worth $6.8 million over five years to support and manage the city's 911 CAD system.

Under the contract, Unisys will manage and host the data center and monitor and manage servers, networks and firewalls. The company also will handle a variety of other services, including procurement and implementation, data support, patch and security management, virus protection and network monitoring.

City staff will continue to answer calls to 911 at the Minneapolis Communications Center, Unisys said. The company's service desk will be available to the dispatchers and their supervisors around the clock.

Unisys' Managed Services Center will monitor the network from Blue Bell. The contract further expands the scope of IT infrastructure outsourcing services that the company began providing to the City of Lakes in 2003.

Unisys has more than 36,000 employees and had annual sales of $5.8 billion in fiscal 2005. The company ranks No. 20 on Washington Technology's 2006
Top 100 list of federal IT prime contractors.