INTRODUCTION TO THE CAPGEMINI GROUP

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2. INTRODUCTION TO THE CAPGEMINI GROUP
The Testing Services offer, which aims to optimize software
testing, is also a clear winner because companies can no longer
allow the slightest delay in bringing their products and services
to market, making the need to identify design flaws quickly an
imperative. All the majors in distribution, logistics, telecoms, air
travel, and at least one large government department in Europe,
are now using the Group’s testing services.
The three other service lines (ITS, especially with the virtualization
of servers offer, BIM and SES) have not yet reached the levels
achieved by ALS, but are nonetheless key motors for growth given
growing client interest in these types of offer.
“A number of companies have begun using cloud computing technologies:
they use SaaS (Software as a Service) for the supply of business
software solutions or they have even virtualized all or part of their data
processing centers,” remarks Patrick Nicolet, head of the new SBU
Infrastructure Services. “As to IT manufacturers, they have called
on cloud computing capacities to access the infrastructures needed for
new developments.”
Cloud computing provides distant access to IT power as well as a
range of software solutions on a pay-as-you-go basis. Clients thus
avoid investment in their own infrastructures (and so capital being
tied up, energy and IT maintenance costs) and in acquiring the
licenses necessary to use the software (license fees, maintenance
and updating costs). Cloud computing thus eliminates the “entry
ticket” to the IT world and is therefore a driver for savings. Cloud
computing’s technological breakthrough also contributes to
companies’ flexibility and speed, two vital elements in today’s
economy.
The data challenge
Companies are also very interested in innovative offers
concerning “smart” management to get closer to their
customers, and even to anticipate market trends and behaviors.
The Big Data phenomenon (the explosion in the volume of
available data) presents companies with a real challenge: one
zettaoctet (10 12 or one thousand billion billions of octets) of
data were generated in the world in 2010, 80% of which remain
unstructured, in other words, “readable” by a computer. And
this volume is set to grow by 30% each year. Technological
responses to this data flood are “real time,” the merger of
external data, predictive analysis and semantics. The real
impact on business functions such as more rapid decisionmaking,
longer supply chains, better fraud detection, or even the
development of new search engines, cannot be over-estimated.
The Group’s BIM business line reported satisfactory activity
in 2010. Clients and partners value the offer’s pertinence
regarding solutions, expertise and execution. Furthermore,
the specialized IT business intelligence centers, which the Group
opened in India (Rightshore ® BI Service Center) sets the Group
apart from the competition, the Indian players included. Among
companies that placed their confidence in the Group’s BIM offer
in 2010 were an agro-food business, a telecoms operator and a
specialist retailer. Analysts Gartner placed Capgemini in the top
quartet in its recent study devoted to suppliers of IT business
intelligence services and the management of intelligence and
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REFERENCE DOCUMENT 2010 CAPGEMINI
Merlin: reducing the global environmental
impact of IT
In October 2010, Capgemini opened a state-of-the art data
processing center called Merlin in the United Kingdom.
The architecturally innovative center sets new standards
for energy efficiency. The cooling system, for example,
makes use of the supply of external air. This ensures that
Merlin uses half the electricity of a classic data center,
with maintenance costs four times smaller. The Group
had to expand its park of data processing centers to meet
strong and growing demand for its outsourcing and cloud
computing solutions. It was vital to respond to clients’
needs in terms of agility, cost optimization and risk
management. The Group has, therefore, supplemented its
traditional offers with services wholly managed, virtualized
or in the form of private clouds. Merlin also opens the
way to a new generation of sustainable and efficient data
processing centers. It will act as a model for the different
installations being introduced to respond to clients’ needs.
Capgemini has already invested 100 million euros in the
construction of 25 data process centers serving more
than 26,000 severs in Germany, Canada, China, Spain, the
United States, Finland, France, the Netherlands, the United
Kingdom and Switzerland.
performances. (1) This result was obtained thanks to the Group’s
“execution skills” and the “breadth of its vision.”
Finally, as everyone is all too well aware, energy lies at the
heart of current preoccupations and is the justification for the
SES service line. Governments and companies have gradually
woken up to the need for smarter management of electricity
via distribution networks and meters. Sweden and Italy have
almost 100% penetration of “smart” meters. The United
Kingdom, Ireland, Norway, Finland, France and Spain have
also significant deployment projects. In the United States, the
government has decided to favor the development of “smart”
distribution networks by granting credits of 2.5 billion euros for
developments in this area. Capgemini has projects to roll out
metering in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom,
Italy, Spain and India, two contracts for the management of
“smart” meter (parks) in Sweden (with electricity companies
Fortum, for 860,000 units and, thanks to its acquisition of
Skvader, with E.ON, for 400,000 units). The Group is also well
placed to benefit from commercial opportunities in China. In
addition, it has a center of excellence in India, where its knowhow
and innovative skills are grouped, allowing for standardized
solutions and offers throughout the Group.
1 Gartner Inc.: “Magic Quadrant for Global Business Intelligence and
Performance Management Service Providers,” Alex Soejarto,
Neil Chandler, January 27, 2011.