Fonterra sticks with EDS

New Zealand-based dairy multinational Fonterra has extended its outsourcing contract with EDS by four years for an undisclosed sum.

The deal announced in a statement from the outsourcer this morning means EDS will continue to provide all IT infrastructure -- including mid-range server, desktop and laptop, local area network and helpdesk services -- for Fonterra in 40 countries until 2015.

The two companies signed the initial seven-year outsourcing contract, worth US$380 million (NZ$590 million), in December 2003.

Fonterra chief information officer Greg James said the company reviewed its contract at this time because it had completed some major projects.

"Over the past three years, we have achieved a number of significant milestones with EDS. This includes the transformation programme for our IT systems onto a standardised platform which has been completed in New Zealand and is under way in the rest of the world," he said.

"We've also worked with EDS to move our core global SAP financial and supply chain management system onto a new platform, allowing us to engage the utility computing model on a pay-as-you-use basis."

Fonterra would now focus on using IT to drive innovation across the business, he said.