UK water company United Utilities has signed up Fujitsu to transform its IT estate.

Under the terms of a ten-year contract, Fujitsu will design, build and manage the infrastructure which connects its data center environments.

This includes the design and provision of a fiber optic network between its existing data center in Warrington and a new site in Manchester, which is set to open mid-2014.

Furthermore, Fujitsu will manage and maintain the network on a 24/7 basis, providing engineering capability on site.

Paul Patterson, executive director at Fujitsu, said the objective for the company is to create a “resilient and reliable” network that provides United Utilities with control over its various operations, as well as helping to reduce IT costs, thus supporting the critical national infrastructure.

Last month Fujitsu added two new data center buildings at the Akashi System Center, the company's main data center campus that serves western Japan.