The Welsh government has signed a £70 million contract with IT services provider Atos that will extend the long-standing relationship between the parties until 2019. The five-year contract extension begins in 2014 and forms part of the Welsh government's ICT strategy.

The IT services company, which has worked with the Welsh government since 1998, will aim to continue to provide flexibility and manage a "multi-source" environment. Atos leads the "Merlin" team that works with the Welsh government to focus on major strategic challenges. The MERLIN Alliance has transformed the ICT environment for the Welsh Government and the Assembly: delivering a secure, resilient, scalable infrastructure, a future-proof and flexible environment – and the latest virtualisation and communication technologies.

Source: computing.co.uk