Bytes secures £150m Microsoft deal with the NHS

Five-year contract will see Bytes roll out Windows 10 licences to over one million NHS users

Bytes has won a mammoth £150m deal that will see it roll out Windows 10 to all NHS England machines.

As part of its response to the crippling WannaCry outbreak last year, the NHS is upgrading to Microsoft's latest operating system, which the vendor says houses "cutting-edge security features".

The project is part of the government's wider cybersecurity spending initiative which will also see it invest £21m to upgrade the NHS' firewall and network infrastructure, and build a security operations centre.

Speaking to CRN, Bytes managing director Neil Murphy said that the software VAR's public sector team will expand as a result of the deal, which will run for five years.

"We are already close partners with the NHS anyway and we have a large team of people working on the NHS account up and down the country," he said. "That team will have to grow quite significantly for us to help Microsoft roll out Windows 10 Licences to the whole of NHS England."

"Over the next couple of years Microsoft will be working with a whole raft of partners across England to provide implementation services and successfully complete the project. Bytes is providing the licences; the technical deployment will be carried out in conjunction with a range of Microsoft certified partners.

"There'll be ancillary projects across the NHS to add in additional features and other protections which Microsoft and other vendors are working on with the NHS already, so there is a huge amount of work that has already been done. This element of the project which Bytes is involved in is just to ensure that Windows 10 licences are rolled out across NHS England."

The subscription-based contract, worth £30m a year, will see Bytes more than double the business it transacts with the NHS, which currently sits at £20m a year.

Murphy said that Bytes beat off competition from around 10 other suppliers when the tender was sent out via Crown Commercial Service, adding that he expects the win to provide a springboard for Bytes in the NHS space.

"There is further opportunity to provide other products and services to parts of the NHS that we aren't already dealing with, so it's a great opportunity for Bytes," he added.

"Last year we grew the business by 25 per cent, so this is really going to help us grow the company further this year and over the next five years."

In a news release announcing the deal, Microsoft talked up the security capabilities of Windows 10, stressing the urgency required to protect the NHS after the "significant" impact of WannaCry.

Microsoft's UK CEO Cindy Rose said: "The importance of helping to protect the NHS from the growing threat of cyberattacks cannot be overstated.

"The introduction of a centralised Windows 10 agreement will ensure a consistent approach to security that also enables the NHS to rapidly modernise its IT infrastructure."