Major broadcasters will be watching with interest the outcome of the BBC's move to outsource its technology services. Already common with government agencies and large corporations, outsourcing will leave the broadcaster to concentrate on its core competency of program making. More details have emerged of the deal between Siemens Business Services (SBS) and the BBC, which saw the sale of BBC Technology to Siemens. The 10-year contract aims to save IT operating costs by 10 percent. The savings can then be redistributed by the BBC to content creation.
Currently, the BBC operates 28,000 desktop PCs. These will now be managed under the Siemens contract. Siemens will apply their expertise in telecommunications to integrate video and audio distribution circuits, voice, and data into an integrated and resilient network linking their 267 sites throughout the world. Siemens will also manage the coding and multiplexing of the BBC's digital television networks and manage www.bbc.co.uk.
The next step will be to provide a tiered, commodity storage network for secure archiving of digital assets that will meet the demands of digital content creation. Siemens is perhaps best known for heavy electrical engineering. The transition from power engineering to the media business will be aided by the expertise brought on-board by the 1400 staff acquired along with the BBC Technology purchase. A proportion of the staff already provides strategic consulting and project management to media businesses, and SBS will continue to develop these services. SBS provides IT outsourcing for government agencies and the financial and manufacturing sectors across the globe.
For more information, visit www.siemens.co.uk/sbs.
