2e2 customers to stump up £1m

2e2 customers must agree to pay nearly £1m by 5pm on 8 February to keep the stricken company’s data centres functioning.

The systems integrator has several NHS customers including Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, which signed a contract worth £36.8m over seven years to outsource its ICT services to 2e2 last year.

2e2 placed tens of its UK companies into administration last week.

More than 600 of its 2,000 staff have since been made redundant.

A letter published on the 2e2 website, from the joint administrators at FTI Consulting, says they have provided substantial funding to 2e2 companies since they went into administration to ensure continuity of service, but the cash has run out.

They have received a number of requests from customers wanting immediate access to their data , but that the process could take up to 16 weeks.

To cover the cost of keeping 2e2’s data centres running from 6 February to 15 February, the administrators have asked all customers to provide immediate funding of £940,000.

“During this period, the companies will not take any steps to close the data centres and we will work with data centre customers and the companies’ technical operations team, to develop a strategy for the orderly transition of data centre services,” the letter to customers says.

2e2’s 20 biggest customers have been asked to pay £40,000 each while smaller customers are asked to provide £4,000.

Customers must sign a letter agreeing to this arrangement by 5pm today, or face their service being cut off.

“In the absence of securing sufficient funding from data centre customers, we will need to cease all data centre operations with immediate effect without any managed wind-down of those operations,” it says.

The administrators say they have talked to a number of parties interested in buying all or parts of 2e2.

“Regrettably, despite these efforts, we have been unable to secure an acceptable and deliverable offer to sell the business as a going concern and there is no further funding which can be made available,” the letter says.

2e2 will therefore no longer provide; flexible resourcing; business applications; unified communications; and field support.

“As a result, the personnel associated with these areas of the UK business have regrettably been made redundant and the companies are no longer able to continue to provide these services to you,” it explains.

“Insofar as the services referred to above are concerned, you will need to put alternative arrangements in place with immediate effect.”

NHS North Central London Cluster, the commissioning arms of Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey and Islington primary care trusts, has also outsourced its IT services to 2e2.