SCC for first time able to offer technology to UK universities through the National Desktop and Notebook agreement (NDNA)

24-7-2013 — /EuropaWire/ — SCC has announced that for the first time, it is now able to provide UK universities with a range of hardware and related services through the National Desktop and Notebook agreement (NDNA).

The news follows this month’s announcement that SCC supplier Lenovo’s bid had resulted in the personal technology company being accredited as an official supplier on the NDNA – a procurement framework agreement enabling higher education institutions to access competitively priced, industry approved hardware quickly and effectively.

With Lenovo’s range of desktops and laptops now available through the framework agreement at consistently low prices, SCC can now offer university customers a different approach to hardware procurement, helping them transform their approach to the desktop and end user experience. Rather than simply providing generic boxed products, Europe’s largest independent technology solutions brand will offer education institutions a strategic service-led approach, working with in-house staff and a range of technology partners to ensure that new machines are correctly configured and connected after delivery

“We are delighted that for the very first time, universities now have the ability to purchase Lenovo technology under a pre-tendered framework agreement that not only guarantees competitive prices, but also reduces the time and expense normally associated with the tendering process,” said Andy Wright, Vendor Alliances Director at SCC.

“With SCC already providing the Higher Education sector with IBM server and storage technologies, this latest agreement will enable us to add a new level of service for institutions purchasing desktops and notebooks. In addition to offering comprehensive support and installation as an intrinsic part of the process, we can now help them deliver an entirely new end user experience, leveraging our relationships with technology providers like Microsoft, Citrix and VMware to transform the desktop and deliver new, more effective ways of working with technology.”

Lenovo’s Michelle McGeoch, UK senior sales manager, added: “Winning a place on the NDNA framework is a significant milestone for Lenovo and is further evidence of our growth and success in both education and the wider public sector. We’re confident that by working together with carefully selected partners like SCC we will be able to offer the UK’s higher educational institutions a real alternative in computing innovation.”

Infrastructure services are supplied via the National Server and Storage Agreement (NSSA) operated by the Southern Universities Purchasing Consortium (SUPC), which offers all Universities, HE/FE Colleges and affiliated Member Institutions the opportunity to take advantage of a Server and Storage purchasing framework and benefit from competitive pricing.

Wright added: “With budgets under pressure and demand for efficiency a constant feature, the ability to extract faster time to value for IT projects is essential. By combining hardware sales with expert technical pre and post-sales consultancy, we are now in a position to help educational institutions accelerate the procurement process while simultaneously driving down purchase and implementation costs.”

About Lenovo
Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is a US$34 billion personal technology company – one of the top two PC makers in the world and an emerging PC Plus leader – serving customers in more than 160 countries. Dedicated to exceptionally engineered PCs and mobile internet devices, Lenovo’s business is built on product innovation, a highly-efficient global supply chain and strong strategic execution. Formed by Lenovo Group’s acquisition of the former IBM Personal Computing Division, the Company develops, manufactures and markets reliable, high-quality, secure and easy-to-use technology products and services. Its product lines include legendary Think-branded commercial PCs and Idea-branded consumer PCs, as well as servers, workstations, and a family of mobile internet devices, including tablets and smart phones. Lenovo, a global Fortune 500 company, has major research centers in Yamato, Japan; Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, China; and Raleigh, North Carolina. For more information see www.lenovo.com.

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