HP rubber stamps $600m bank IT deal

Hewlett Packard has finally signed its delayed seven-year $600m IT outsourcing contract with the Bank of Ireland.

The deal was initially announced back in April but faced strong opposition from bank workers and the union over the protection of rights for the 500 employees that will transfer to HP.

At one point the union warned that if concessions were not made then the bank would face "total war" with its staff, but an independent arbitrator managed to negotiate a satisfactory agreement in September. Regulatory approvals were also granted by the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority and the Financial Services Authority in the UK.

Since then the details of the contract, which includes managed services, consulting, integration and customer support services have been finalised. HP will manage the bank's entire IT infrastructure, including desktop systems, servers, mainframes, local area networks, printing operations and service desk.

One of the stated aims is to minimise the bank's operating costs and reduce "volume consumption".

Cyril Dunne, group CIO at the Bank of Ireland, said in a statement: "Completion of this contract marks the culmination of a lengthy process, during which Bank of Ireland assessed a number of potential service providers. The contract supports our ambition to maintain industry-leading IT capability and greater certainty around IT costs."