14th December 2004 Hewlett Packard has been selected to run the controversial IT systems for the London Borough of Newham, in a 10-year deal worth £14 million.

Newham’s IT systems have drawn huge levels of attention, after it appeared to be on the verge of ditching Microsoft in favour of open source software, but had a last minute change of heart in light of discounts offered by Microsoft and a report suggesting Microsoft could deliver more savings.

HP will update Newham’s infrastructure, including building a new server farm based on blade technology. It will also rollout new PC’s across the council, including a range of tablet devices.

“With over one million citizens and a need to extend our service offerings, the new technology infrastructure will be critical to meeting their needs and offering the best possible, most cost-effective services to stakeholders,” said Richard Steel, head of ICT at Newham.

HP was chosen over both Dell and IBM. The option of a flexible payment plan, which allows Newham to license by seat numbers and reduce upfront costs was a crucial factor, said Steel.

Earlier this year, Microsoft funded a Capgemini report which predicted Newham could save £3.2 million over five years by sticking to Windows, compared with savings of £1.6 million with Linux.