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Story URL: http://www.silicon.com/retailandleisure/0,3800011842,39287119,00.htm

Publisher ditches mainframe for €1m savings
Turns to managed Windows as costs rise

By Julian Goldsmith

Published: Friday 12 September 2008

International publishing company International Masters Publishers (IMP) has ported its mainframe functions to a Windows-based architecture, saving more than €1m.

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The company, which specialises in information and education periodicals, previously had a deal with Logica to host mainframe ERP applications to support customer services. It has now switched to a Windows platform, managed by Micro Focus.

The deal will cost IMP €1.5m and see the company's businesses across 35 countries making the switch to Windows throughout this year. The rollout is expected to be completed by early 2009, with the UK scheduled to be ported over the next month.

The project will also see IMP consolidating a number of data centres across the world to one in its parent country, Sweden.

IMP CIO David Ives told silicon.com: "With any new contract renewal, we were finding it harder to find potential providers. Fewer players are delivering the sorts of mainframe services we use. This means the licensing costs are increasing."

Ives admitted the project is fundamentally a cost-cutting exercise but he explained that the move to a Windows environment has opened up opportunities for the future - potentially including a greater use of a cloud computing model.