Philips, Deutsche Post, WestLB, and the US Defense Finance and Accounting Agency are among the organizations that have committed to $100 million projects in 2004 to hand over the management of their desktops to third-party vendors.

While many large enterprises have already farmed out their desktop support as part of broader infrastructure outsourcing deals involving staff and asset transfers, the aforementioned organizations have announced initiatives that focus on the desktop level, and do not involve complex employee handovers.

Philips announced a deal with a consortium of vendors last week to overhaul and manage its 75,000 desktops across its global operations. Dell is managing the $700 million five-year project and providing new hardware, with Getronics delivering onsite desktop support, and Atos Origin, in which Philips owns a 15% stake, providing helpdesk support and LAN, server, printer, and applications management.

Rene Baas, VP client management at Atos Origin for the Philips account, told ComputerWire that other large companies are looking at ways of cutting the cost of running their PCs, while ensuring that they are using sufficiently up-to-date operating systems and tools to get the most out of their applications.

We responded to a request for information from Philips, which had benchmarked its desktops and was looking to standardize its infrastructure. Philips wanted a combined hardware/services solution, which is why we are working alongside Dell, he said. Companies are looking for a vendor to take away the problem of standardizing their desktops and keeping them up to date with the latest technology for a fixed, utility price.

The cost of running PCs has reached a level where IT managers view it almost as much as a commodity as running their telephone networks. For example, IBM Global Services offers a managed desktop service including backup and anti-virus protection for $40 per seat, per month, aimed at companies with between 100 and 1,000 seats.

Many desktop management services deals are triggered by the need for an initial desktop technology upgrade. Many clients have not upgraded their PC operating systems since the late 1990s, but now need to go beyond Windows 95 or 98 in order to support more complex applications.

With a growing number of clients benchmarking the cost of running their desktops, it is becoming easier for a vendor with a fixed-price offering to demonstrate the potential savings of their service. If the client is spending $100 per month on supporting PCs, a vendor with a fixed $50 per seat offering can clearly demonstrate an ROI.

Atos Origin is one of several companies offering a packaged managed desktop service. Its Next Generation Desktop service bundles together all services required to keep a PC, notebook, or printer, running, including security, back-up, and maintenance for a broad service level agreement, at a fixed price based on the requirements of the user.

Another big selling point of the managed services model is that vendors can keep the clients up to speed with the latest security patches and management tools. With EDS’ Agile Workplace Services offering, tools are installed directly to users’ desktops over the corporate network, and migrations, upgrades and patches are managed through automation, without the need for manual intervention by technicians.

Specialist desktop services companies are also reaping the benefits of growing market demand. Computacenter, Europe’s largest corporate PC reseller, reported a surge of 19% in sales of managed services in its core UK operation in the first half of its current financial year.