Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) and Novell have entered into a strategic partnership to expand their core technical capabilities and suite of services.
As per the deal, Novell will outsource part of its internal IT operations to ACS which will also provide SAP consulting and applications development and maintenance system integration services as part of a $135m, five-year contract.
Both the companies will each invest in joint engineering, technology, sales and marketing initiatives. Besides, during the first three years, ACS would partner with Novell to enhance its global data centre operations and will purchase approximately $30m in Novell products.
Under the IT outsourcing arrangement, ACS would also shift the service delivery operations in Provo, Utah and an estimated 156 employees within Novell’s Information Services & Technology group, including infrastructure and application development and maintenance services operations.
Ron Hovsepian, president and CEO of Novell, said: ACS will benefit from leveraging Novell solutions to provide data centre services to its global clients, giving Novell a substantial new source of revenue and a new route to market. The IT outsourcing arrangement will also enable Novell to focus on its core business while giving the opportunity to substantially improve IT performance from both a financial and operational perspective.
