Empired collars largest deal in its history with WA Government-owned Western Power
Empired’s deal with Western Power includes two contracts worth a combined $61 million.
IT provider Empired (ASX: EPD) has collared what it claims is the largest deal in the company’s history comprising two multi-year contracts with Western Australian Government-owned power distribution network Western Power.
The deal includes an infrastructure managed services contract worth about $31 million over five years and a master IT supply contract valued at $30 million over the same period.
Both contracts have an initial five-year term plus two one-year extension options enabling both contracts to be expanded up to seven years.
Under the infrastructure managed services contract, Empired will provide around the clock end user computing services to more than 3,300 Western Power staff and contractors.
Empired will manage all data centres and cloud operations plus more than 2,000 network devices across 30 sites.
It is expected transition to Empired’s services will begin “immediately” with the company to be running everything by early August.
Additionally, the master IT supply contract paves the way for Empired to provide a technology enhancement program that supports the managed services agreement.
This will involve Empired boosting core back end services to cloud and digital platforms via its partnership with HCL, which is a global giant in the energy and power distribution markets.
Commenting on the deal, Empired managing director Russell Baskerville said the company was “very proud” to be selected to deliver Western Power’s IT needs.
“Western Power operates the majority of power distribution in Western Australia. It is a privilege and testament to Empired’s capability to be trusted by Western Power to manage systems that are critical to the safe and reliable distribution of power to Western Australia,” he added.
Meanwhile Western Power’s chief information officer Andrew Smith said Empired’s solution was a “modern approach” to managing IT services – including innovation, artificial intelligence and a state-of-the-art operations centre.
“We are confident this will let Western Power drive improved efficiency and productivity while ensuring digital platforms are optimised to provide improved services to all stakeholders,” Mr Smith added.
By mid-morning, Empired’s shares had risen almost 26% to $0.34.