R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company Awards EDS Information Technology Services Contract

Source from:  PLANO, Texas, Jan. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ 01/23/2008

EDS and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company have signed a new services contract under which EDS will manage the company's information technology (IT) infrastructure environment. The contract was signed in the fourth quarter of 2007 and financial terms of the agreement are not being disclosed. Beginning in August 2008, EDS will manage R.J. Reynolds' IT infrastructure environment, including mainframes, mid-range servers, databases and data centers all housed at R.J. Reynolds' facilities in North Carolina. EDS will also provide field-level and help-desk support for the R.J. Reynolds network and computing environment, which includes WAN/LAN, video conferencing, telephones, PCs and laptops for its employees nationwide. "EDS has a strong foundation of proven tools, processes and people. This partnership will enable us to leverage speed, flexibility and effectiveness in technology to support our business growth strategies in the tobacco marketplace," said Donald I. Lamonds, executive vice president and CIO of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. "This will give us a strong platform to support our systems and applications, such as SAP." EDS' extensive portfolio of business and IT solutions will expand R. J. Reynolds' access to a broad range of technology platforms, provide resources that can flex based on demand along with the ability to ramp up quickly for new projects or system needs. R.J. Reynolds will also benefit from EDS' leading-edge expertise in system security and economies of scale in meeting technology needs. "EDS assists many companies like R.J. Reynolds in transforming their IT environments to a more cost-effective and flexible model," said Mike Klaus, EDS vice president, Global Consumer and Retail Industries. "We will leverage our IT industry expertise and practical innovation to maintain a reliable and secure infrastructure for R.J. Reynolds, so the company can continue to focus on its core business and strengthen its leadership position in the tobacco industry." EDS serves more than 200 consumer and retail industry clients. As a leading provider in the consumer and retail industries, EDS focuses on a variety of market segments including food/beverage, apparel/footwear, consumer products and retail outlets including restaurants, mass/department, grocery, drug, convenience, online/catalog and specialty. Enditem