Capgemini: UK Unit Gets Royal Mail Six-Year IT Contract

French IT services Group Capgemini SA (CAP.FR) said Tuesday that U.K. national postal service Royal Mail Group Ltd. has signed a six-year IT contract with its Capgemini UK plc subsidiary.

Terms weren't disclosed.

MAIN FACTS:

- The move aims to transform Royal Mail's business and consumer online services, help to reduce annual website IT costs and support expansion and diversification into a wide range of new web-based business opportunities without the delays and expense of traditional IT.

-The contract is for cloud computing, a technology breakthrough which enables IT-on-demand to be piped into an organization as a 'smart utility' on a money-saving pay-as-you-go basis.

-Areas seen as strong candidates for expansion and diversification at Royal Mail Group (RMG) include services for personal and small or medium business customers, and high-quality, innovative parcel delivery services to meet the needs of the UK's boom in online shopping.

-The new technology can be quickly and easily reconfigured to support RMG in launching new business ventures and bringing new services to market as quickly as possible.

-The deal centres on Capgemini's Infostructure Transformation Services (ITS) and on Capgemini Immediate, its best of breed cloud computing solution. ITS is a Capgemini global service line which enables clients to address the fundamental design, build and running of their informational structure, or "infostructure."

-Capgemini Immediate enables an "ecosystem" of third party IT suppliers to provide services seamlessly within the overall solution, with Capgemini acting as services integrator and prime contractor.

- By Paris Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]