UK Crescent Purchasing Consortium Appointed Softcat

The Crescent Purchasing Consortium (CPC) has appointed Softcat Limited among a select group of suppliers to provide network hardware and services, including servers and data storage, to a range of institutions involved in further education throughout the UK.

The Network Hardware & Services inc. Servers & Data Storage framework contract, which Softcat won following a tendering process, will run for at least two years with options to run for another two years. It will see institutions within further education, academies, private schools, free schools, British museums, adult education colleges and other education institutions benefit from Softcat’s products and services in the framework LOTs covering servers, enterprise storage, maintenance and support, and consultancy.

The contract is the second that the CPC has awarded to Softcat in the last year, having already selected the IT reseller for desktop hardware and peripherals. Softcat is now following through on its commitment to expand and grow its service offering into further education and the wider education space.

Andy Bruen, Softcat’s public sector frameworks manager, stated: "The framework offers us an invaluable vehicle with which to shine and excel within the wider education sector. Historically our core competencies have been seen to be in the server and storage space, where we directly employ 30 or more comprehensively qualified in-house engineering professionals, and retain apex vendor accreditation. Our education customer base can only benefit from Softcat’s service delivery through CPC’s brand new IT framework."

Softcat is one of only three organisations in the UK that hold HP’s Professional Services Partner status, as well as VMware Premier Partner status, and recently won VMware’s Partner of the Year award. Other accolades it has won in the last year include Dell UK and EMEA Partner of the Year, Symantec’s Commercial Partner of the Year, and being the first reseller to retain Reseller of the Year in consecutive years at the CRN Channel Awards.