“Atos signs a new 5-year global outsourcing contract with RTE”

Cloud computing and virtualisation, a ground-breaking approach for transformation in a complex environment

Atos, an international IT services company, today announced it has been awarded a global IT outsourcing contract by Réseau de Transport d’Electricité (RTE). The 5-year contract will enable work to be carried out on development of the IT infrastructure, applications and workplace services at RTE, a utility company responsible for operating, maintaining and developing the French electricity grid to help deploy a successful energy transition scheme.

Under the new contract, RTE’s longstanding IT partner Atos will take over management of RTE’s IT infrastructure, applications and workplace services. Atos will draw on its experience and capacity for innovation and industrialisation to help RTE maintain the best possible IT quality, availability and security for its public service function.

Jean-Claude Viala, CIO at RTE, points out the importance of IT systems as the nerve centre of RTE’s critical operations: “As the operator of a vital national infrastructure maintaining a balance between demand for electricity and supply of electricity, RTE must have a secure, high performance IT system at the best possible price. RTE intends to develop its system to transform it into a flexible high-performance tool at the sharp end of development and support for operations. Thanks to its in-depth knowledge of our operational and functional needs, Atos has produced and offer an organisational framework that meet RTE’s needs and will help us address the major energy challenges in the decades ahead.”

Gilles Grapinet Senior Executive Vice-President of Atos says: “The new contract demonstrates the Group’s technical capacities in delivering and managing IT systems for a major Customer such as RTE. In addition to actual performance of the contract and its undertakings, our teams will contribute their expertise in the operation and industrialisation of Cloud Computing technology with a number of specific continuous-improvement methodologies.”

Gartner ranked Atos, Europe’s N° 1 firm in its sector and as a 2013 Magic Quadrant "leader" in outsourcing and infrastructure services in Europe and North America. The firm’s IT outsourcing activities deploy more than 28,000 employees and produce turnover of more than 4 billion euros. Atos carries out facilities outsourcing services for more than 140,000 servers, of which the virtualisation rate is already almost 40%. As far as Cloud activities are concerned, Atos generates a turnover of around €200 million through CANOPY, its cloud company.

With more than thirty years’ experience in Energy and Services for Local Authorities, Atos helps firms become more competitive with sustainable operational excellence to manage information in real time, with facilities ranging from smart meters to scorecards. Atos has some 3,000 IT experts specialising in these areas, 1,500 of whom work at the Atos Worldgrid, a unique smart energy player.

About RTE

RTE, Réseau de Transport d’Electricité, is a utility company that provides all its customers with an economic, safe, clean supply of electricity. RTE operates, maintains and develops France’s high voltage and very high voltage grids, and guarantees proper safe operation of the electrical power system. RTE channels power from electricity producers (in France and abroad) to consumers, either power distributors or industrial customers with a direct link to the transmission grid. With over 100,000 km of power lines ranging between 63,000 and 400,000 volts and 46 cross-border lines, the RTE network is Europe’s largest.

About Atos

Atos SE (Societas Europaea) is an international information technology services company with 2013 annual revenue of € 8.6 billion and 76,300 employees in 52 countries. Serving a global client base, it delivers IT services in 3 domains, Consulting & Technology Services, Systems Integration and Managed Services & BPO, and transactional services through Worldline. With its deep technology expertise and industry knowledge, it works with clients across the following market sectors: Manufacturing, Retail & Transportation; Public & Health; Financial Services; Telcos, Media & Utilities.

Atos is focused on business technology that powers progress and helps organizations to create their firm of the future. It is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic & Paralympic Games and is quoted on the NYSE Euronext Paris market. Atos operates under the brands Atos, Atos Consulting & Technology Services, Worldline and Atos Worldgrid.