New Contracts Consolidate State Data
The Texas Department of Information Resources announced it has signed new contracts consolidating the state’s data management and IT operations, dumping an existing contract with IBM.
The largest contract goes to a Dallas-based unit of the Xerox Corporation, known as ACS State and Local Solutions. In a press release on its website, the company says this is the largest project of its kind in the country.
Under an $848 million, eight-year contract, Xerox will help the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) streamline IT operations of state agencies by refreshing technology and combining operations from 28 separate facilities to two centralized data centers. The transformation will reduce the cost of running multiple data centers, and improve security and disaster recovery capabilities.
A $127 million contract went to Capgemini North America, part of the multi-national Capgemini Group, who says this is one of the company's largest infrastructure service contracts in the United States.
Specifically, the team will provide a variety of services including information technology infrastructure library (ITIL) based service management, service desk solutions, program management, IT security, business continuity, disaster recovery and financial management.
The Austin-American Statesman reports that these contractors replace the IBM Corporation, who had a $863 million, seven-year contract with the state.
IBM was supposed to complete the main data center consolidation by December 2009, but by the summer of 2010, only about 12 percent of the work had been done. Little progress has been made since that time as the state has been searching for IBM's replacements.
The state says that transition to the new service providers has begun.
Texas and Baylor's Women's Basketball Aim High for the NCAA Tournament
The Texas women’s basketball team just made the cut for the NCAA Tournament. Their first game is this Saturday morning at 10:10 a.m. central time. The Longhorns are the number nine seed in the Fresno Regional, and they’ll play eighth-seeded West Virginia. This is the fifth consecutive year the Longhorns have participated in the NCAA Tournament.
The undefeated, top-seeded Baylor women’s basketball team is hoping for a national championship at the NCAA Tournament. It’ll face UC-Santa Barbara, seeded 16th in the Des Moines Regional. The game is Sunday afternoon at 1:45 a.m. central time.
Public Input Sought on Imagine Austin Plan
The Austin Planning Commission will meet with the public tonight to get feedback on a draft of the Imagine Austin comprehensive plan. This is the second of three public input meetings. Imagine Austin outlines community priorities and action steps aimed at influencing how Austin grows. Tonight’s meeting is at 6 p.m. at City Hall.
