International Business Machines (IBM) has received an eight-year contract, valued at $873 million from State of Georgia, for information technology (IT) outsourcing services.

Under the terms of the contract IBM will provide the state with a range of data centre services, including mainframe and midrange system management, service desk, disaster recovery.

The contract also includes two additional one-year, optional extensions.

In addition, the agreement will enable the State to replace an aging infrastructure and migrate older technologies onto newer IBM technology platforms.

IBM said in a release that latest contract will support Governor Perdue's initiatives to better serve Georgia residents by consolidating 11 independent IT environments into an integrated and reliable operation.

The contract is also expected to employ about 300 state employees in positions at IBM, Dell or Xerox.