It was reported last month that Disney had selected the two IT services giants following an 18-month long internal review of its IT requirements, with a third of its 30,000 employees moving to the outsourcing providers. ACS only revealed its contract in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission under fair disclosure regulations, and Disney confirmed the two contracts on Tuesday, perhaps earlier than it had planned. It has not revealed where or how many positions will go.
IBM won the slightly larger deal, worth $730m over seven years. IBM will manage Disney’s mainframe and mid-range computers, applications, and storage systems.
ACS announced a $610m deal, also over seven years, which is the fourth largest contract it has ever signed, according ComputerWire’s IT Services Contracts Database. The Dallas, Texas-based company will provide IT infrastructure services for Disney’s global data network including desktop and helpdesk support, anti-virus, intrusion detection, messaging, and procurement.
Disney’s move to split its outsourcing requirements between two vendors is in keeping with the current trend where clients work with a number of best-of-breed IT services vendors rather than a single outsourcer.
