Daisy Group To Take On Some Of Data Management Company Sungard's UK Customers

UK customers of datacenter and colo service provider Sungard Availability Services are to be transferred to Daisy Corporate Services, part of the Daisy Group, months after Sungard went into administration.

According to some reports, Daisy Group has signed a deal to acquire the UK arm of Sungard, in a move that would see the company pick up Sungard's former customers, including major banks and other financial institutions.

However, a statement given to The Register by the administrators, Teneo Financial Advisory, merely states that some Sungard customers will be transferred to Daisy Corporate Services, and it is not clear how many are included this arrangement.

"The Joint Administrators confirm that they have signed an exclusivity agreement with Daisy Corporate Services Trading Limited ('Daisy') to facilitate the transfer of customers from 10 Sungard Workplace facilities. All affected customers have been contacted and recommended to engage with Daisy to ensure continuity of service," Teneo said.

Sungard Workplace is a service that provides office space and IT infrastructure as part of a customer's business continuity strategy. Daisy offers similar capabilities under its Work Area Recovery services.

Teneo said that Sungard expects to continue to operate its Workplace facilities for a short period to facilitate the migration of customers, while customers at other Sungard datacenters are not affected by this agreement.

According to Sky News, Teneo has advised Sungard clients to agree new contractual terms with Daisy within a month, after which the services provided by Sungard will cease.

We contacted Daisy Group for more details regarding the transfer of customers from Sungard and will update the story with its response.

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Sungard's UK division was forced into administration in March, following a steep rise in energy bills and a failed attempt to negotiate rental concessions from some of its landlords in order to mitigate cash flow pressures while it tried to deal with liquidity issues the company was facing.

The company operated 16 data centres and workplace recovery areas in the UK and it had simply not passed on the soaring cost of utility bills to customers.

In April, Sungard's parent company filed for bankruptcy both in the US and for its Canadian subsidiary, citing difficult economic conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other issues, but with the intention to continue operations as it seeks to bring forward a restructuring process it had already started.

Part of Sungard's problems in the US apparently stemmed from lower demand for its business continuity services because many companies have decided to permanently switch over to the work-from-home arrangements they adopted during the pandemic. ®