EDS Belgium Continues to Win Market Share in the Public Sector
PLANO, Texas and BRUSSELS, Belgium, April 10 /CNW/ -- EDS today announced the Flemish Public Employment Service (VDAB) agency has selected EDS as its new partner to manage its information communication technology (ICT) infrastructure. The contract has a six-year term and is worth approximately euro 50 million (US$74 million).
Under the contract, EDS will provide a range of infrastructure services, including user support, user infrastructure management and maximum availability of the ICT environment for the agency's customers and partners. EDS will provide desktop support to more than 5,000 users in 200-plus locations and manage approximately 100 servers.
"An open infrastructure that allows efficient collaboration with the various partners is crucial to support VDAB's steering role in the Flemish labor market," said Fons Leroy, managing director of VDAB. "In the coming years, the challenge is to bring about innovation and synergy with the Flemish government, and VDAB has chosen to take on this challenge together with EDS."
"Together with my team we negotiated a transparent and flexible outsourcing model that allows change and encourages a competitive pricing," said Paul Danneels, CIO of VDAB. "We are looking for innovation in support of further strengthening VDAB's pioneer role in career guidance and education infrastructure. This contract will also allow us to cooperate with the Flemish Government in various areas."
"For this contract EDS has established a balanced cooperation with local subcontractors," said Jan Cleeren, sales manager for the Belgium public sector. "Together with Belgacom and Econocom, we will deploy the best experts to be able to meet the high execution demands typical for this agreement."
"We are proud to be selected as the preferred partner for this important contract and that after 10 years, EDS returns to VDAB as their ICT service provider," said Eric Van Bael, managing director of EDS Belgium.
EDS is a leader in the European market and is therefore well positioned to execute the full range of services of system and business application management, service desk, server and storage infrastructure, LAN management and security. The WAN network will be managed by Belgacom, who will also provide datacenter services. Econocom will see to the intervention services. EDS' transparent and flexible price setting guarantees a competitive offer that allows for innovation initiatives.
About VDAB
The VDAB is the Flemish agency for work and job training that provides a platform for job seekers and employers. To perform this important social task as well as possible, the VDAB provides a relatively accessible, high quality and free service to all job seekers and employers. The VDAB defines its mission as follows: "Guiding and executing, as a public service provider, wishing to work towards a transparent and dynamic labour market in Flanders for job seekers, employees and employers."
In 2006 the number of registered job seekers was 672,426 and a total of 327,203 job seekers were referred to vacancies by the counsellors. Job seekers have access to job vacancies through different channels: job computers, the service line, the counsellors, teletext and the Internet. The number of consultations counted 7.29 million in 2006, an average of 607,953 per month.
About EDS
EDS (NYSE: EDS) is a leading global technology services company delivering business solutions to its clients. EDS founded the information technology outsourcing industry 45 years ago. Today, EDS delivers a broad portfolio of information technology and business process outsourcing services to clients in the manufacturing, financial services, healthcare, communications, energy, transportation, and consumer and retail industries and to governments around the world. Learn more at eds.com.
The statements in this news release that are not historical statements, including statements regarding the amount of new contract values, are forward- looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond EDS' control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. For information concerning these risks and uncertainties, see EDS' most recent Form 10-K. EDS disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
CONTACTS:
Blake Hull - EDS US Greet Sysmans - EDS Belgium
1 972 605 5063 32 473 993363
blake.hull@eds.com greet.sysmans@eds.com