Hewlett-Packard on Thursday will announce an expanded information technology services deal with DirecTV worth "hundreds of millions" of dollars, continuing the momentum of HP's outsourcing arm. The new five-year contract calls for HP to manage the technology behind DirecTV's customer billing operations. DirecTV, which is a unit of General Motors' Hughes Electronics, has 11 million subscribers.
Precise terms of the HP-DirecTV deal were not disclosed. A representative from DirecTV confirmed the agreement but could not immediately provide additional comment.
HP has been hosting DirecTV's billing computer infrastructure for nearly 10 years. With the new contract, HP will also take over the management of DirecTV's billing software system. HP plans to use billing software from DST Innovis. HP also will upgrade the billing system's hardware, with HP AlphaServer GS series servers running HP's Tru64 UNIX software and HP StorageWorks data-storage equipment.
The new gear should prepare DirecTV to handle surges in customer transactions, such as when people sign up during promotions or when the satellite TV service offers a pay-per-view special event such as a prize fight, said Joe Hogan, vice president of managed services for HP Services.
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News source: c|net
