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Pennsylvania Launching Giant Cloud

After years of unifying its data centers, Pennsylvania has awarded Unisys a contract that will bring them together into a hybrid cloud.

A big cloud is approaching Pennsylvania. Unisys announced on July 14 that the commonwealth had awarded them a contract for what will be one of the largest cloud projects in state government. Through partnerships with IBM, Deloitte, and local businesses, Unisys will unify Pennsylvania’s seven data centers into a hybrid cloud that provides scalable services across the organization. The seven-year, $681 million contract was won through a competitive bid process, and is the next iteration of the commonwealth’s data center evolution.

“By moving to an on-demand computing model for delivering IT services, we are changing the way we have traditionally done business in IT,” said Tony Encinias, chief information officer for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. “Rather than attempting to predict our technology requirements years ahead of time, this contract will allow us to purchase services when we need them, giving us greater flexibility and efficiency while saving money.”

The system will enable Pennsylvania’s IT department to offer self-provisioned hosted services that scale on demand, according to Unisys. The system will also allow for project, contract, security, and facilities management.

After the seven year contract, there are three one-year renewal options for Unisys. This contract comes after years of effort to consolidate state data centers, some of which were managed by Unisys.

“We’re excited by this opportunity to help the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania advance to a new level of innovation and service delivery,” said Ron Frankenfield, president of Unisys Enterprise Services. “We look forward to harnessing the power of the cloud to help the Commonwealth reduce costs and provide cost-effective services to the citizens of Pennsylvania.”

Colin wrote for Government Technology and Emergency Management from 2010 through most of 2016.