Marks & Spencer (M&S) has awarded supplier Logicalis a four-year, multimillion-pound outsourcing contract.

Logicalis will improve the performance of the retailer's IT network, while supporting the deployment of new IT services.

Logicalis was chosen for its ability to satisfy all necessary criteria, said Damone Quigley, head of infrastructure and application services at M&S.

“It wasn’t simply a case of finding a supplier that could deliver technology services. We sought a partner with the ability to align IT performance to the needs of the business, who can demonstrate innovation in service delivery, share in risk and reward, and be flexible enough to adapt to the future demands of the retail environment," said Quigley.

M&S has 591 UK stores and regional offices, which are being migrated onto the Logicalis network monitoring service. They will receive support for the management of wired and wireless network infrastructure from the Logicalis’ managed service centre (MSC) and onsite teams.

The MSC will support M&S’ IT team as it delivers critical IT and business processes including point of sale and transaction services.

M&S will be opening several new stores during the term of the contract. These will also be migrated onto the network monitoring service.