IBM wins $180m deal with Singapore Airlines

Singapore Airlines has finally taken the shroud off the IT services firm that has been tasked to run its entire IT operations.

Under a seven-year, $180m contract announced yesterday, IBM will manage Singapore Airlines' (SIA) data centre and IT help desk, as well as provide support services for its end users.

Details of SIA's plans to outsource its technology functions were first revealed last month, but the airline did not name the company that won the contract. At that time, SIA said 130 staff in its IT department would be affected by the move.

The latest statement from the company said that "SIA staff in the affected areas have been offered the opportunity to join IBM on a package comparable in both remuneration and role."

Mak Swee Wah, SIA's senior vice-president of planning and head of IT services, said: "By outsourcing these functions to IBM, Singapore Airlines will meet its goal of focusing on its core business, enabling both efficient cost management and a high standard of customer service and satisfaction."

The agreement, which will be effected on 18 November, is expected to save SIA $9m per year, the company added.

This move comes on the back of several high-profile IT outsourcing deals announced on the island-state in recent months.

In September, Singapore's Ministry of Manpower signed a new three-year contract with Hewlett-Packard and the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) to manage its IT operations. The deal also involved the transfer of the ministry's IT staff to HP and IDA.

Later that month, the Media Development Authority of Singapore announced it had outsourced the day-to-day IT administration duties and the management of 25 servers, 250 desktops and its network infrastructure to IBM. The value of this deal was undisclosed.