Outlook Series | NII Holdings Taps HP for IT Managed Services

NII Holdings Taps HP for IT Managed Services

March 1, 2010

NII Holdings, a provider of mobile communication services operating under the Nextel brand in Latin America, has selected HP Enterprise Services to manage its applications and technology infrastructure support services throughout Latin America. The agreement covers the management of NII’s IT applications and infrastructure across its operations in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Peru and headquarters in the United States.

This agreement positions NII to further enhance the superior service quality and customer experience its high-value customers have come to expect. Under the agreement, HP (NYSE: HPQ) will standardize processes, consolidate technology infrastructure support services, and employ new technology to assist NII in delivering expanded services to customers, while reducing costs. HP brings an experienced approach to data center consolidation and management to support NII’s technology infrastructure both at is subsidiaries in Latin America and at its U.S. headquarters.

“The foundation of delivering the highest quality voice and data services to our valuable customers throughout Latin America is rooted in providing an outstanding customer experience,” said Steve Dussek, NII Holdings’ Chief Executive Officer. “Our partnership with HP is a key component in our efforts to enhance the IT systems that support all the services we provide to our customers and improve the efficiency of our operations,” he added.

“Given the opportunities to deliver profitable growth, including our plans to deploy 3G capabilities, we are confident that this is the right time to utilize the experience of HP to enhance the efficiency and flexibility of our IT infrastructure,” said Alan Strauss, NII Holdings’ Chief Technology Officer. “Using the expertise of HP and the experience of our employees, we will standardize our processes and leverage the opportunities to increase our operational flexibility, improve our cost efficiencies, and improve our service quality. This improved efficiency will help us to better serve our customers and allow us to invest in developing and launching new and innovative services. And our employees who will be transitioning to become employees of HP Enterprise Services will benefit from the opportunity to work with one of the world’s largest technology companies, leveraging their expertise to build more efficient IT operations,” he added.

Key elements of the managed services arrangements include the following:

HP will provide applications development, management and testing services that include NII’s software development processes, billing systems and applications support. These services will help NII improve applications performance, quality and reliability with measurable service levels linked to key business performance indicators.
HP will consolidate and manage the workplace computing environment for NII employees in Latin America and the United States. Services will include service desk and site support services.
Data center management services are also a significant part of the agreement. HP will manage and support the server and storage environments at NII sites in each of NII’s markets and at its headquarters, and in an HP site in Argentina. Additionally, HP will provide security services and manage NII’s internal information technology network and will provide a network that links data centers in the United States and Latin America.
These services will be delivered to NII primarily from sites in the United States and Latin America that are part of the HP Best Shore® global delivery network. This delivery model focuses on using an optimal mix of onsite, nearshore and farshore resources to provide the skills and expertise required, with consistent delivery processes at all locations around the world.

“NII is looking for a partner to continuously identify opportunities to improve processes, tools, software and platforms to ensure that its technology investments support its business,” said Andy Mattes, senior vice president, Americas, HP Enterprise Services. “HP will use its communications industry expertise to help NII in its efforts to capture more revenue with new, innovative services while streamlining technology operations across its markets and reducing overall costs with standardized technology processes.”