OREANDA-NEWS. March 30, 2009.  IBS DataFort, the provider of functional IT outsourcing services in the Russian market, reported a 60 per cent increase in the number of supported retail outlets and warehouse facilities in 2008 under a long-term outsourcing contract with M.Video, Russia’s leading retailer of electronic equipment and household appliances. IBS DataFort undertook to provide technical support for 13 more M.Video stores in the past several months alone, reported the press-centre of IBS.

M.Video shows dynamic growth, having opened 37 new hypermarkets in 2008 despite the crisis. The company’s retail chain currently comprises 160 stores in 68 Russian cities. 120 of the stores, and also 50 warehouses, are served by IBS DataFort.

Under the terms of the outsourcing contract, IBS DataFort services include scheduled maintenance of computer hardware and system software, recovery of server hardware and workstations, installation of structured cabling system components, protecting the integrity of user data, and forming and supporting the pool of replacement hardware.

The relationship between the two companies started in late 2004 when a pilot project was launched involving St. Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod stores. After the pilot project, the support contract for most regional M.Video stores went to IBS DataFort. In October 2007 the contract was extended for three years.

Now IBS DataFort administers and supports approximately 4,000 user workplaces and over 15 thousand computer hardware items of M.Video, including printers, flatbed scanners, barcode scanners, card readers, monitors, server and active network hardware and uninterruptible power supply units.

“Business continuity and a high level of our services hinge on the quality of IT infrastructure support. Centralised IBS DataFort services provide us with the benefits of manageability, flexibility and scalability, which are very important. We have outsourced to our partner the functions of and liability for hardware support, so we do not have to look for a contractor in each of the regions and each of the cities, duplicate staff responsibilities or bear extra costs of regional management,” commented Alexei Mishin, Director, Technical Support Department, M.Video.

Denis Kalinin, General Director, IBS DataFort: “Having opted for an external service provider as the ‘single point of access’ for workstation management and server and peripheral hardware services, M.Video is able to make more efficient use of IT resources to achieve its business objectives and enhance control and manageability of IT assets.”

M.Video plans to launch over 20 new stores in 2009, and some of the new stores will also use IBS DataFort technical support services.