Deal includes move to virtualised data centre infrastructure

The London arm of the De Beers mining giant has signed a seven-year £8m outsourcing deal with Unisys.

The supplier will manage data centre servers including a virtualisation programme and strategic application support for the Diamond Trading Company (DTC), which handles sales and marketing for the South African family of businesses.

"To maintain the DTC’s leadership in the global rough diamond marketplace, we require a sophisticated, business-driven IT infrastructure that enhances our supply chain and supports our operations,” said IT director Jeremy Newell.

The transformation to the new virtualised infrastructure is due to be completed by August. It will run at Unisys sites in the UK, while management and support services are delivered from a facility in Bangalore, India.