The announcement of a flurry of major outsourcing deals in January ensured that 2008 got off to a bright start, despite the ongoing concerns regarding global recession.

The two biggest deals of the month were secured by network-services providers. French giant Alcatel-Lucent was named as Brasil Telecom’s sole network partner. While the value of the deal was not officially revealed, sources suggest that it could be worth well over $1 billion. Under the Nokia Siemens’ contract with Saudi Arabian mobile telecom company Zain, the company will roll out a 2G and 3G mobile network, including core and radio networks, operations and business support systems, applications and a full suite of services that would include managed services across Saudi Arabia.

January also saw a number of significant deals signed in the government sector. The biggest came in Belgium, where the Flemish government extended its contract with the EDS-Telindus consortium for another seven years. Under the terms of the deal, the largest of its kind ever awarded in Belgium, EDS will provide application development, support and management services and server, storage and infrastructure management; while Telindus, the network services arm of local telecoms operator Belgacom, will provide network, PC and security support functions.

Earlier in the month, EDS extended another long-term deal, this time with the Medicaid department of the state of Indiana. The contract, worth $210 million over six and a half years, will see EDS continue as a fiscal agent to the state’s 27,000 health care providers, a position it has held for the last 16 years. Also in the US Medicaid space, ACS won a deal with the State of Tennessee to handle data management, systems modification and daily operations of the TennCare Management Information System, which handles the state’s Medicaid program.

CSC continued its strong run of contract wins that began in December, when it claimed three of the month’s 10 biggest deals. In January, CSC secured a $544 million deal with NASA to provide facility support services. This includes range of maintenance and support services.

There has been further activity in the U.K. insurance sector. In November last year, Capita won a deal worth $1.5 billion to provide Prudential U.K. with customer servicing, new business processing, claims activity and IT support functions. January saw Diligenta, a subsidiary of India’s Tata Consultancy Services, secure an agreement with Sun Life Financial. The deal is only the second deal Diligenta has won. The first was the landmark contract with Pearl Assurance, signed in 2006.

The Ten Largest IT Services Deals in Jan. 2008
Customer	Provider	Engagement(s)	Value ($ mn)	Duration (in yrs)
Brasil Telecom	Alcatel-Lucent	Network management, network integration	1100	2
Zain	Nokia Siemens Networks	Network management, systems integration	935	5
Flemish Govt	EDS/Telindus	Application management, infrastructure management	831	7
NASA	CSC	Maintenance/support	544	10
New York State Thruway Authority	ACS	Application management	500	10
US Air Force	Harris	Maintenance/support	410	6.5
Marsh	Capita Group	Business process outsourcing	390	10
Family & Social  Services Administration	EDS	Application development and support, maintenance/support	210	6.5
Sun Life Financial	TCS	Business process outsourcing	200	—
State of Tennessee	ACS	Business process outsourcing	156	5