IBM, APC take spots on data centre panel

IBM and APC have won second-round places on a panel of service providers available to help Federal Government agencies migrate to new data centre facilities.

The vendors were quietly added to the standing offers listing on AusTender last week.

They joined a list that also included services firms Dell Australia, Dimension Data, Fujitsu Australia and HP, among others.

The 'migration service panel' was separate to the 'facilities panel' of approved suppliers of data centre space, which was announced in March and updated again in May.

The Government last month added NEC Australia to the facilities panel, in a win for the vendor that was reported by Intermedium today.

An NEC spokesman told iTnews that it was appointed to the five-year panel on 10 June.

Agencies were expected to engage these facility providers when their existing data centre leases expired, or if they changed current IT outsourcing arrangements.

The consolidation of current data centres was expected to avoid $1 billion in future costs.