Sasol awards £40m contract to BT
9 Dec 2009
London – BT has signed a five-year network and security services outsourcing contract with Sasol, South Africa’s integrated energy and chemical company, worth over £40 million. Under the agreement, BT will manage Sasol’s local area (LAN) and wide area networks (WAN) and provide internet connectivity.
Managed security services, active directory, identity and access management (IAM) as well as systems centre management are also part of the deal. This contract is part of a Sasol move to a multi-sourcing model for services, as the company looks to cut costs and standardise technology platforms within its operations.
BT South Africa has been awarded the global connectivity part of the overall ICT outsourcing project. The deal includes comprehensive management of WAN and LAN, based on BT’s Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network. This global internet protocol (IP) network, available in over 170 countries around the world, underpins mission critical applications for leading global enterprises from a variety of industry sectors.
Initially, locations connected to the BT network will include Sasol’s key business hubs in Africa, the Middle East, North America and Asia-Pacific. These will then be expanded to include all Sasol sites around the world.
According to BT, an important requirement for Sasol was global availability of services, supporting the company’s rapid growth in its existing markets as well as expansion into new markets. BT’s remote access solution will enable Sasol’s mobile workforce to access the company network and applications securely anywhere in the world. BT is working with Dimension Data, a leading specialist IT services and solution provider, for the delivery of certain services.
BT said its track record as a global outsourcing partner for multinational companies was one of the main reasons it has been awarded this contract. BT’s “impeccable” Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) credentials and commitment to the South African market also played an important role, the company also claimed.
