Edinfor strengthens presence in Brazilian IT outsourcing market with new Comgás contract worth €12 million
LogicaCMG today announces that Comgás, the largest natural gas distribution company in Brazil, has chosen Edinfor, a LogicaCMG company, for a five-year outsourcing contract worth 33 million Brazilian reais (€12 million). Edinfor will be responsible for outsourcing the infrastructure and application management of Comgás. The new structure will be installed at Edinfor’s data centre at Mogi das Cruzes, and the migration is scheduled to be completed within a timeframe of four months.
Roberto Newton Carneiro, CIO of Comgás, said: "We chose Edinfor as our strategic IT partner because of its significant technical skills and expertise in developing and deploying solutions for the utilities marketplace. Another reason for choosing Edinfor is the fact that it has SAS 70 level I and II certification".
Edinfor secured SAS 70 level I and II certification in 2006. It ensures that all of Edinfor's procedures and processes in Brazil are compliant with the requirements needed to meet the demands of numerous international standards regarding data centres as well as the Sarbanes-Oxley law.
Roberto Newton Carneiro explains that Edinfor was fully aware of the business challenges facing Comgás: "Our expansion plan for the next few years focuses on the residential market, which means that we will need a much more secure and reliable infrastructure. This will allow us to serve a highly fragmented customer base appropriately and to handle and process information in an agile and secure way. In the agreement, Edinfor has proposed technology solutions using cutting-edge technology scaled to match our growth."
According to Fermin Fautsch, Edinfor’s general manager in Brazil said: "Providing utilities services is part of our company's DNA. Winning the Comgás contract is a landmark for our company's track record in Brazil and strengthens our leading position as a solution and service provider in this marketplace still further"
Edinfor was one of nine companies to submit their proposals in the selection process, which began in August 2006. The participants had to undergo exhaustive assessments as Comgás had tightened its SLA (Service Level Agreement) terms significantly in order to be able to meet increasing national regulatory demands and international auditing requirements. In addition, as the company is jointly owned by BG and Shell, Comgás needs to be compliant with Sarbanes-Oxley.
In line with its new strategy, Comgás was looking to change its service outsourcing model, beginning with drastic cuts across its extensive vendor base and by outsourcing the entire company's infrastructure management and most of its applications to a single IT partner.
By outsourcing its systems to Edinfor the approximately 20 contracts that are currently still being managed will be reduced to a single one. Comgás estimates that this will result in monthly savings of more than 5% compared to the current technology budget, as well as a significant increase in operational agility.
"The size of the new infrastructure allows for a doubling of our operating capability and will enable Comgás to expand its network, which has been growing approximately 20% every year since the company was privatised," said Roberto Newton.
Fermin Fautsch said: "This contract shows that Comgás is both commercially and technically well prepared. The objective for 2007 is to deliver top-notch services to increase the efficiency of Comgás's business and meet the company's new demands".
The scope of the contract includes application management (SAP, GIS, CRM, intranet/internet and BI); infrastructure and operating systems; backup site and disaster recovery; server management; databases and operations management; and Unix and Intel platform monitoring.
This contract follows an earlier project when Comgás chose Edinfor’s GIS-based technical management solution for deploying its Geogás project. This project involved upgrading Comgás’s existing Geo-Spatial Information System using a solution based on GE Energy's GIS Smallworld. This provided an innovative way of integrating the company's operations unit with its commercial and marketing units, while also making technical information more readily available, reliable and easily accessible.
NOTES TO EDITORS
About Comgás
Companhia de Gás de São Paulo (Comgás) is Brazil's largest natural gas distribution company. The company, which was privatised in 1999 and is jointly owned by the BG (British Gas) Group and Shell, serves approximately 177 metropolitan municipalities in and around São Paulo, Campinas, Baixada Santista and Paraíba Valley, with approximately 500,000 customers. In 2006, the company distributed 4.76 billion m³, approximately 25% of the entire Brazilian natural gas market.
About LogicaCMG
LogicaCMG is a major international force in IT services. It employs around 40,000 people across 41 countries. LogicaCMG’s focus is on enabling its customers to build and maintain leadership positions using LogicaCMG’s deep industry knowledge and its track record for successful delivery. The company provides business consulting, systems integration and IT and business process outsourcing across diverse markets including telecoms, financial services, energy and utilities, industry, distribution and transport and the public sector. Headquartered in Europe, LogicaCMG is listed on both the London Stock Exchange and Euronext (Amsterdam) (LSE:LOG; Euronext:LOG) and traded on the Xternal List of the Nordic Exchange in Stockholm. More information is available at
Media contacts
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Citigate Dewe Rogerson
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www.logica.com.
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