The UK's National Health Service (NHS) has awarded an IT overhaul contract to Indian tech company Tata Consultancy Services.

This comes alongside Secure I.T. Environments' announcement of the delivery of a modular data center to the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, despite a push by NHS executives for the service to stop investing in data centers.

Tata's contract with the NHS will see the tech company helping the NHS's supply chain operation using cloud computing and artificial intelligence technologies, as well as helping the organization to exit legacy software, replacing it with a modern ERP system, reports Computer Weekly.

Matthew Wynn, executive director of data and technology at NHS Supply Chain, said: "Ultimately, it will enhance our operational efficiency and service delivery as we work towards our commitment to unlock over £1bn ($1.32bn) in recurrent value by 2030. Working alongside our teams, TCS will help modernize our legacy systems into a more streamlined, cloud-based environment. This shift will strengthen our resilience, improve user experience, and enable us to respond faster to changing business and customer needs.”

The contract will span five years. The value of the agreement has not been shared.

The NHS has long been adopting a more cloud-first approach to IT. In January 2024, the organization said it had decommissioned the data centers that had been hosting its NHS Spine system.

That November, former CIO of NHS England, John Quinn, called for Trusts to stop investing in data centers and instead move to the cloud.

Despite this, many Trusts and hospitals in the UK still operate (and deploy) data centers.

Secure I.T. Environments revealed on November 18 that it had deployed a modular, containerized data center for the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust.

Spanning 125 sqm (1,345 sq ft), the data center will be used as a disaster recovery site to ensure resilient services for the Trust's 1.7 million patients.

The modular data center was designed and delivered in just eight months. It houses 20 19-inch 48U cabinets, configured in two rows of 10 with cold aisle containment.

Chris Wellfair, projects director at Secure I.T. Environments, said: “At a time when many organizations are trying to balance the needs of their IT infrastructure with challenging budgets, our modular data centers are making it easier for them to achieve their goals, without compromising on performance. Having previously built a data center for the Trust at another hospital location we were pleased to work with Somerset NHS Foundation Trust to deliver this new data center to meet their specific requirements.”

Adam Morgan, deputy CTO at Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, added: “Secure I.T. have delivered a significant upgrade to the Trust’s data center infrastructure. We were very specific about the design brief and requirements, and it has been a positive project delivering this facility with Secure I.T. Environments. The Trust now has additional capacity for growth for years to come, which will bring benefits to clinical care by enabling resilient delivery of clinical systems across the county of Somerset.”

Secure I.T. has previously delivered data centers to Barnet Hospital in London, and upgraded a data center for the NHS Royal Free Hospital and on the Isle of Wight.

This week also saw Schneider Electric and DataCentre UK deploying a modular data center for South Warwickshire NHS Trust.