Global pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca is to extend its outsourcing contract with IBM for another seven years, during which time IBM will manage the company’s IT infrastructure in its entirety.           

According to the deal, worth $1.4 billion over the seven year period, IBM will support AstraZeneca’s servers and storage, service desks, desktop estate, networking and communications. IBM will provide the company with a single, unified IT infrastructure to used be by AztraZeneca offices across 60 countries.

AstraZeneca will retain direct control of the design and maintenance of its applications, as well as strategic control of IT. But as far as the IT infrastructure is concerned, IBM will enjoy a free hand in design and implementation.

“In allowing IBM greater autonomy on methods of delivery, the agreement will result in cost efficiencies when compared with running in-house systems,” said AztraZeneca’s CIO, Richard Williams.

In early 2007, AstraZeneca announced that it was undergoing a process of cost rationalisation. All large players in the pharmaceutical industry are currently facing pressure from generic alternatives to their products.

 "We have to start looking across our entire business more aggressively to make sure that we're doing everything we can to utilise all of our resources in the best possible way," AstraZeneca CEO David Brennan said in February 2007.

Further reading

Information Age profile - IBM in India