Industry news

British telecoms firm BT has launched legal action against Google in the United States over patent infringement in a number of key areas for the technology group such as mobile map services.

BT, Britain's dominant fixed-line telecoms group, said in a statement on Monday that it had filed a claim with the U.S. District Court of Delaware for patent infringement.

The BT claim relates to six patents which BT says are infringed by such services as Google's highly successful mobile platform Android, Google Maps, Google Music, advertising services, gmail and other products.

The London borough of Hillingdon has announced plans to begin using Google Apps for Business early in the new year. It said it believes it will become the first local authority in the UK to take this step, which represents a significant move into cloud computing.

It has approved a plan to shift its 3,500 staff to using the web-based applications, which will include email, calender, documents, word processing, instant messaging and voice and videoconferencing.

ICICI Prudential, a leading insurance company, is automating IT and business processes with BMC Software’s Control-M Workload Automation solution.

BMC is expanding its footprint in the Indian insurance sector, and its new relationship with ICICI Prudential Life is an example of how companies in the region are deriving benefits from BMC solutions, which help reduce costs and optimize availability – ultimately enabling clients to efficiently deliver their business services.

BT today announced the signature with the European Parliament of two framework contracts, together worth up to 120 million euros.

The five year contracts cover a wide range of networked IT services, including the supply of network equipment and applications as well as all associated professional services for the European Parliament's telecommunications infrastructure and systems. Service delivery will take place at the European Parliament’s three main sites in Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg.

A representative for the European Parliament said: “BT put together a competitive and strong offering which really stood out. Their highly-skilled integration experts and a vendor agnostic approach should enable us to implement all communication infrastructures and services according to our Call for Tender specifications. This makes me confident that we have chosen the right partner, who will help our organisation to become more efficient and reduce costs.”

Samsung Electronics has filed new claims in its patent war with Apple Inc over alleged patent infringements in Germany.

The tech giant added four patents to its ongoing infringement case related to the telecommunications standard technology WCDMA for 3G mobile handsets, which was filed in April, the spokesman said.

The four new complaints, including use of emoticons, come as the worldwide patent battle between Apple and smartphone rival Samsung continues to escalate.

An innovative public-private partnership is set to improve transactional services for Slough Borough Council, delivering £26.5m savings over the next ten years and bringing new business into the town.

The partnership with global business process outsourcing group arvato will see £3.8m being invested into transforming services such as revenues and benefits, payroll, finance services, HR and logistics services. The partnership will go live on 2nd April 2012.

Under the agreement, staff from four service areas within Slough Borough Council will transfer to arvato on their current terms. The services will be delivered through the creation of the Thames Valley Transactional Service Centre – a shared service hub, which will not only support the council’s services, but will also offer transactional solutions to a wider range of private and public sector organisations, creating employment opportunities for Slough.

IBM has announced an agreement to acquire Emptoris for an undisclosed amount.

Emptoris makes software that works to add intelligence to procurement and supply-chain operations with spend, supplier and contract management. The acquisition is the latest addition to IBM's Smarter Commerce initiative the company launched earlier this year. The initiative aims to help companies respond to shifting customer buying patterns.

"Procurement officers need to manage the full engagement, integrating suppliers with key internal systems, and have the capability and visibility to manage compliance and mitigate supply risk," said Patrick Quirk, CEO of Emptoris. "That is the value we bring to the procurement organization."

Camwood Limited, the UK-based specialists in application logistics, has announced the award of a three-year managed service contract from BAE Systems, to provide managed application certification services across the company’s UK desktop environment. The new contract builds on work done by Camwood over the past year where it provided expertise to BAE Systems and its partners in deploying applications to support the development of a ‘software as a service’ initiative.

Virtualising applications is seen by BAE Systems as a major step towards delivering more efficient IT services. Instead of applications being hosted on each of 37,500+ individual desktops across the UK organisation, they will be stored centrally and as many as possible delivered using Microsoft’s App-V technology.

Allan Leggetter, Director of Enterprise IT Services for BAE Systems: “We recognise that undertaking a “software as a service” transformation will enable the business to be more agile in the deployment and management of applications across the enterprise. Camwood, as a recognised provider of expert services in this field, has been pivotal in progressing this initiative and is crucial to its on-going success.”

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) awarded CSC a task order to continue to operate and maintain USCIS’ Verification Information System (VIS).

The task order, which was awarded during CSC’s fiscal 2012 second quarter, has a one-year base period, a one-year option and two six-month options, bringing the estimated total three-year value to $67 million. This task order was awarded under the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Enterprise Acquisition Gateway for Leading Edge Solutions (EAGLE) contract that CSC won in 2006.

“For nearly 10 years, CSC has applied the right mix of proven experience, technology expertise and thought leadership to help USCIS attain a highly secure and efficient user experience for its programs,” said Mike Gaffney, president of CSC’s North American Public Sector Civil Group. “Our large-scale civilian identification and entitlement management programs leverage subject matter knowledge and industry best practices gained from numerous engagements with U.S. and international clients.”

Rochdale council is revoking its 15-year outsourcing deal with Mouchel after only five years.

The consultant confirmed in a city trading statement today that: “We are in discussions with Rochdale Council to mutually agree an amicable exit from our Partnership.

“If achieved, the order book will decrease by circa £130M, with negligible impact to operating profit and cash.”

Mouchel is lead partner in the Impact Partnership which signed a 15-year deal in 2006 to take over services including highways and property maintenance across Rochdale.