Significant IT provisioning commitment for the global food chain...

Microsoft has won an unusually committed IT support and software licensing with Tesco. The ambit of the eight-year program is a 'global collaboration platform', according to Mike McNamara, Tesco's group CIO, who observes: "These technologies can help bring us together to share learning and expertise, views and opinions, thoughts and ideas".

The proposed infrastructure shake-up involves the deployment of enterprise-level Microsoft solutions including Office, Exchange, the Lync messaging system, SharePoint, SQL Server, System Centre and BizTalk. The contract includes consultancy via Microsoft Services' Enterprise Strategy programme - aimed at prioritising and delivering projects with greater efficiency of time and expenditure.

As far as enterprise-level deployment of Microsoft's new office initiatives is concerned, this must be one of the most significant developments in corporate IT in the UK - and beyond, as Tesco, whose HQ is based at in Cheshunt, operates food retail chains out of 14 countries in Europe, Asia and North America, and all will benefit from the IT provisioning of the Microsoft deal.

The inclusion of BizTalk in the package is notable, indicating that the new MS/Tesco's set-up will seek to accommodate existing infrastructure to some extent, though no specific comment has been made about this at the moment.

Outsourcing IT support (wanstor.com)