UK based gas utility Centrica has signed a seven year, $400m outsourcing services contract with HP Enterprise Services UK.

Centrica is moving to a private cloud and a utility-based computing environment.

In a statement issued to announce the contract win HP said ‘Centrica will have access to next-generation technology with just the right computing capacity to meet its needs with minimum cost and environmental impact.’

This strongly implies a flexible cloud service-led model under which Centrica will pay for service levels and not server infrastructure. The supplier said it will provide these services from two of its data centers in the United Kingdom, including one in Wynyard.

"Centrica is striving to improve our ability to respond to market changes to supply gas and electricity to homes and businesses more efficiently," said Dave Bickerton, group chief information officer, Centrica. "We value HP’s utility computing capabilities and quality solutions that are flexible, cost-effective and help reduce our carbon footprint."

HP’s Wynyard  data center is a stand out facility which has an award winning cooling set up. The facility uses an extended sub floor which contains much of the power plant and is air cooled through the use of eight 2.2 metre fans which draw filtered outside air. The air is pushed through the five metre sub floor and up through contained cold aisles under positive pressure before it is pushed out through a ceiling return for ejection of re-cycling. The weather in the north of England is cold and dry, making outside air economization feasible. The site contains seven data halls.

Remote data center based support is to be delivered from HP global delivery centers in India, Malaysia and the Philippines along with project and applications services to support the Centrica-led migration.

Centrica also will have access to HP’s enterprise cloud-computing services