Up to 370 BT staff will be transferred to Computacenter, the UK's biggest computer reseller, as part of a £100 million deal, The Guardian reported today. The staff are said to be angry and discussing strike action.

Computacenter issued a statement to the London Stock Exchange confirming that it was in discussions with BT "in respect of a strategic partnership to
provide support for desktop computing equipment and supply of IT hardware products.

"The Board understands that, in accordance with TUPE regulations, the BT Group has informed some staff of a possible change of employer, should the terms of
the contract be agreed."

So that's where the leak comes from. If BT told staff that they could be moving to Computacenter, then this will be very encouraging news for the reseller. Computacenter is already the incumbent IT hardware supplier in BT, and the telco is its biggest account. As such, the outsourcing deal would represent an extension of existing business, rather than completely new money. ®