Satyam went up against heavyweights Accenture, IBM and others for a World Health Organization contract and took the prize.Satyam Computer Services Ltd. bested Accenture, IBM and other rivals for an enterprise resource planning system contract with the World Health Organization.
The contact calls for Satyam to deploy WHO's Global Management System. Specifically, Satyam will conduct a global rollout of an Oracle-based ERP system. The enterprisewide installation will include WHO's regional offices and 140-plus country offices.
The contract will span a three-year implementation period, according to a Satyam spokeswoman.
ACS Takes Airlines' Bankruptcy in Stride
Affiliated Computer Services found itself with two customers in bankruptcy protection when Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines filed for Chapter 11 protection last week.
In February, ACS announced a seven-year, $120 million human resources business process outsourcing contact with Delta. The deal covers compensation and benefits, administration, payroll, and HR information services among other functions.
For Northwest, ACS provides Internet customer support and "a full suite of in-house customer support center and client-site project consulting services," according to Northwest's Web site.
An ACS spokeswoman said the airlines' filings will have no impact on the company. "The services we provide are critical to the continued operations of both airlines," she said. "We will continue to provide these services."
The transportation and travel sector is one of 10 vertical markets that ACS pursues. The company's services to this industry include call center services, reservation management and e-ticket fulfillment.
ACS, meanwhile, unveiled back-to-back contract awards this week: a business process outsourcing contract with First Group of America and a student loan services pact with the University of Pittsburgh.
Agilysys Promotes Services
Agilysys Inc. on Tuesday launched a program that aims to boost the services component of its resellers' hardware and software sales.
The company offers the program, dubbed Services Surround, to its KeyLink Systems Group partners who sell Hewlett-Packard Co. products. The goal: increase the services content ratio of initial product sales and set the stage for follow-on annuity revenue streams via service contract renewals.
The services to be resold will come from HP Services. Pete Montana, vice president and general manager of HP sales for Agilysys' KeyLink unit, said he expects professional services and education services to top the list of services resellers will find attractive.
"Those are the two with the biggest potential to allow the VARs more of a broad range of entry into the end-user customers," he explained.
KeyLink will train its partners on how to sell HP services. Partners who undergo the training will be able to order services from KeyLink, which in turn will place orders with HP. KeyLink will host a training session next week for 25 partners.
Resellers stand to boost their margins through the services program as well as obtain a recurring revenue stream.
"The hardware margins are continuing to decline," Montana said. The ability to add services to a project will "increase the overall margin of the deal," he said.
KeyLink plans to establish a volume-based quarterly rebate to encourage service sales.
Keane Gets $200M Credit Line
Keane Inc. has closed a five-year, $200 million revolving credit facility with a Bank of America-led banking syndicate.
Keane said it will use the funding to bolster its industry-specific knowledge in such vertical markets as financial services, insurance, health care, government and transportation. The company strategy of late has been to market repeatable solutions to particular market segments. Keane's joint venture company in Australia, for example, is fielding a transportation ticketing system for Australia's Victoria state.
The funding will also be used for acquisitions, share repurchasing, geographic expansion, employee education and solution development, the company said.
Keane announced the funding arrangement on Tuesday. The credit agreement replaces Keane's existing $50 million revolving credit facility, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Next page: DiamondCluster plans to reduce work force.
DiamondCluster Cuts Staff
DiamondCluster International Inc. plans to reduce its global work force by about 6 percent, as it closes or downsizes some European offices.
The management consulting firm will close offices in Dusseldorf and Lisbon and reduce staff in its Barcelona office. Layoffs will also take place in the company's South America region. DiamondCluster said it will take an associated restructuring charge of $8 million to $9 million in the September quarter. The staff reductions don't involve the company's operations in North America and the United Kingdom.
DiamondCluster's restructuring aims "to better serve the market and to increase global profitability," according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
The work force reduction will affect about 50 employees, according to the SEC document.
Accenture, SAP Nab Basel II Deal
As if Sarbanes-Oxley wasn't enough, financial services integrators now must deal with another regulation: the Basel II Capital Accord.
Accenture and SAP AG reported on Monday that Caixa Catalunya has selected the companies to implement SAP Basel II application, part of the SAP for Banking Industry solution. Caixa Catalunya is Spain's third-largest savings bank.
Basel II is an international banking regulation, which is expected to go into effect in 2008. The accord aims to "promote enhanced risk-management practices among large, internationally active banking organizations," according to the Federal Reserve Board.
European banks are further along in achieving Basel II compliance than their North American counterparts, according to an Accenture study published earlier this year. The study suggested that the lag reflects "a degree of complacency in light of last year's decision by U.S. regulators to delay application of [Basel II] domestically."
The Federal Reserve has been assessing the impact of Basel II implementation on U.S. banks. In remarks to the Institute of International Bankers this week, Susan Bies, a Federal Reserve governor, said details on the board's Basel II plans may be coming next month.
LSI Logic Targets Channel with Serial Attached SCSI
LSI Logic Corp.'s Serial Attached SCSI host bus adapters (SAS HBAs) are now available to the channel.
Steve Gustafson, senior channel marketing manager for HBA Channel Marketing & Business Development at LSI Logic, said the product will initially appeal to system builders and systems integrators. He said the technology represents a performance boost over parallel SCSI.
The company called its LSI Logic SAS3442X the first SAS HBA commercially available in the channel.
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