Dacoll secures six-year contract to
supply, implement and support
Carestream Health within NHS
Scotland
Bathgate -based Dacoll has secured a six-year contract to supply, implement and support the Server & Storage hardware requirements of Carestream Health as it upgrades its PACS application for NHS Scotland.
Carestream Health is the prime contractor to the NHS National Services Scotland National PACS (Picture Archiving and Communications Systems) Programme, with responsibility for management of medical imagery such as X-Rays. Now, just over half way through its ten-year contract, Carestream has embarked on a refresh programme for the Server and Storage hardware across 34 of the 39 NHS sites it manages in Scotland. This coincides with a major upgrade in software at these sites.
In order to deliver this on time and to budget Carestream required a partner with expertise in server technology, data storage and the ability to deliver detailed 24/7 support services. As such it put the work out to tender and Dacoll competed and won this business following a procurement process that involved an e-Auction and meeting Carestream’s specific criteria.
“The demands of the tender were tough, but thanks to the expertise and knowledge that we have available in-house at Dacoll we were successful and we are delighted to have won the six-year contract to deliver these services,” says Andrew Richmond, Dacoll’s Healthcare Manager. “The contract award was based on cost, solution using best of breed technology, service provision (SLA commitments) & approach, locality, experience, customer relationships, supplier partnerships, vision and expertise.”
As part of its contract Dacoll will be supplying 68 Dell R910 Servers, UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supplies), 34 racks and 34 EMC VNX5300 SAN storage systems. Dacoll is also responsible for hardware build; pre-staging and installation. This includes the project management, consultancy, testing and training, rack build, hardware configuration, OS, application and third-party software build and onsite deployment across all of the sites over a 13 month period.
Key to Dacoll’s success, was its ability to deliver a 24×7 provision for all support services that Carestream requires through its Bathgate-based support centre. This will provide Carestream, and the NHS hospitals involved, with a remote monitoring and Patch Management service, utilising N3 connectivity and Dacoll’s Prime Support suite. Onsite support will provide ex-stock availability of spares and locally based qualified technical resource to meet SLA’s. The final piece in the jigsaw was, given the sensitive nature of the data being stored, Dacoll’s ability to securely dispose of the existing hardware.
“The success that Dacoll has had in winning this prestigious contract to support a global service provider such as Carestream in its commitment to the NHS, is confirmation of the fact that Dacoll is now a leading player in IT infrastructure supply and support, not just in Scotland, but across the UK,” says Andrew Richmond, Dacoll’s Healthcare Manager.
Dacoll Limited:
Dacoll was formed in 1969 to provide maintenance services for the then state-of-the-art English Electric KDF9 computer installed at Glasgow University, this niche market grew with the addition of a similar contract at Newcastle University. Within a short space of time Dacoll used its extensive knowledge of these machines to design and develop memory upgrades, VDU terminals, multi-user processors and networking products, all of which were market leaders in their day.
This business allowed Dacoll to expand and the current Dacoll Group, headquartered in Bathgate, Scotland, encompasses seven individual businesses operating from sites in Aberdeen, Bathgate, Nantwich, Newcastle under Lyme, Birmingham, Maidenhead, London and Longwood (Florida, USA). Group products and services now include: computer services; software development; applications programs; data and power installations; automatic number plate recognition engines and cameras (ANPR).
Carestream Health:
Carestream Health, Inc., is an internationally successful company providing medical and dental imaging systems and information technology solutions; molecular imaging systems; and non-destructive testing products to a broad base of customers around the world. It operates as a standalone entity within the Onex family of companies, which is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Carestream Health, with its headquarters in Rochester, New York has approximately 7,300 employees, and operates in over 150 countries.
NHS National Services Scotland (NSS)
NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) works at the heart of the health service to deliver services critical to frontline patient care and to support the efficient and effective operation of NHSScotland. This includes procurement, contract and vendor management of national IT systems and services on behalf of NHSScotland. www.nhsnss.org.
