Marks & Spencer has signed a four-year contract with Logicalis to manage its IT networks.

The systems provider is monitoring all devices on the M&S network at its head office, data centre and in stores.

On-site teams will also provide engineering, design and development support for M&S’s wired and wireless network infrastructure.

Logicalis provides similar services for Home Retail Group. M&S says it chose the company because it demonstrated innovation in service delivery and was prepared to share risk and reward.

Logicalis managing director Tom Kelly said: “Staff in our managed service centre understand that if a till goes down it costs our customer money straight away.”

In addition, Logicalis will monitor third-party telecoms links, although the responsibility for fixing problems will remain with M&S’s telecoms providers.

Kelly added that Logicalis is in discussions with M&S and the retailer’s systems integrator IBM about systems that could provide near real-time reporting on the success of M&S’s green strategy.