VAR500: HP Services Expands Travel Platform, Accenture Wins CDC Contract

VAR500 IT Solution Providers

The largest North American solution providers continue to make significant gains this fall. CDW advised about environmentally sound IT solutions, while Accenture took the lead on a Center for Disease Control Contract.

In addition, HP provides travel solutions, Glasshouse opined on disaster recovery and IBM launched new enterprise social software that delivers advanced analytics capabilities.

CDW Survey: Green IT Sees Rebound

Organizations are increasingly developing programs to manage and reduce IT energy use, according to CDW's 2010 Energy Efficient IT Report. IT managers rate energy efficiency as a top priority now that the economy has improved. The survey found that three-quarters of U.S. organizations are working to reduce energy use in IT operations, from the desktop to the data center.

"Not only is excess energy consumption a drain on budgets, [but] it also limits the ability of IT managers to provide more and better IT services to employees and customers when aging data centers approach the limits of their power sources," said CDW's Norm Lillis, vice president, system solutions.

HP Services Expands Travel Platform

HP Enterprise Services has announced the planned expansion of its consumer travel enterprise platform, which is designed to enable airline, hospitality, rail, cruise and car rental clients to offer more customer-centric service. HP’s consumer travel product offerings are built on a service-oriented architecture using intuitive user interfaces -- replacing the decades-old, mainframe-based designs of legacy systems.

HP Enterprise Services has licensed the Pegasus Solutions RezView NG distribution platform to accelerate its investment in next-generation consumer travel solutions.

Accenture Is Prime On CDC Contract

Accenture will be the prime contractor on a 10-year contract for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which will be used to acquire a full range of IT services and solutions that support CDC’s global public health initiatives. Accenture will compete for work in two areas -- information management services and IT infrastructure services -- with ceiling values of $3 billion and $1 billion, respectively, over the 10-year period.

’With this award, we intend to help CDC achieve its mission more effectively by leveraging the same high-quality information management, application, and infrastructure capabilities we provide to some of the world’s largest health organizations," said Dan London, managing director, North America Health and Public Service.

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IBM Helps Companies Embrace Social Collaboration

IBM is launching a new Global Business Services initiative that incorporates new enterprise social software that delivers advanced analytics capabilities. Users can gain access to information and people on the fly to accelerate collaboration and be more effective. The 2010 IBM Chief Human Resource Officer Study, found that financially outperforming organizations are 57 percent more likely to let employees use social and collaborative tools. However, fewer than 23 percent of employees use social networking or collaborative technologies to preserve critical knowledge, while just over a quarter use those tools to spread innovation throughout their organizations.

Glasshouse Sites Disaster Recovery Gotchas In New Report

Glasshouse Technologies new white paper, "Critical Disaster Recovery Foundations," outlines commonly overlooked components in a disaster recovery plan and highlights how these mechanisms play a critical role in limiting downtime should a disaster occur.

"It is critical for IT managers to have a holistic view of their IT environment in order to make the right decisions when developing a disaster recovery plan, "said Dick Benton, principal consultant at GlassHouse Technologies. "Identifying and understanding every detail and key component ensures that IT managers plan, and more importantly, execute an effective disaster recovery strategy that makes the most sense for the business."