Reuters has awarded Fujitsu Services a 10-year contract to “transform” its worldwide internal information technology infrastructure. The deal, which Fujitsu described as a “landmark” contract, will be worth around £500 million and is expected to realise savings for Reuters of around £150 over the term of the agreement.

Reuters, the world’s largest news and information service provider, has a long and successful track-record of using outsourced services David Lister, the company’s CIO, said the new agreement “is a fairly radical departure for us.”

For the first time, Reuters has handed complete responsibility for its global IT delivery platform to a single supplier, and challenged Fujitsu to continue to evolve, develop and invest in the platform for the period of the agreement. “A key component [of the agreement] is that both sides are encouraged rewarded for finding ways of driving up the value of services” Lister said.

Fujitsu’s immediate goal is to supply Reuters with a consistent set of IT services for all of its 17,000 staff worldwide, including anytime, anywhere access to any required Reuters service. It is required to achieve this gaol whilst virtualising Reuter’s entire IT estate and providing the highest service level at the lowest possible cost.

Fujitsu is not expected to deliver every facet of this requirement itself, and will work with a consortium of suppliers from around the world, including established Reuters’ service partners such as BT, Dell and Satyam.

Although some of the services provided by these companies will now be delivered under the auspices of the global agreement with Fujitsu, Lister said he did not expect this to substantially change Reuters’ relationship with these key suppliers.

In the case of Satyam, for instance, Lister said he expected Reuters’ relationship with the company to deepen as the Indian company took responsibility for a fulfilling wider infrastructure support role on the subcontinent.