EDS wins $2.1bn Rolls Royce contract

NEWS Rolls Royce has agreed to spend $2.1bn on ebusiness and supply chain technology and services from EDS. The engine and turbine manufacturer signed its first IT contract with EDS - for basic IT infrastructure, including mainframes and a voice and data requirements - in 1996. A Rolls Royce spokesman said: "This brings in the ebusiness and management areas, which were not included before." The contract will run until 2012, a six-year extension from the original 1996 agreement. Rolls Royce hopes the supply chain management system will sort out a complex global web of suppliers. "We only make 30 per cent of our products inhouse, so we're buying-in 70 per cent of our materials and components," explained the Rolls Royce spokesman. The companies have not made a decision about the ebusiness technology that EDS will install, according to the spokesman, but details should be released within the next few months.