Stefan Mileschin

European Commision, France, Northern Ireland, and Brazil turn to Futuremark benchmarks for impartial performance comparisons

HELSINKI, FINLAND – July 7, 2014 – Futuremark announced today that its PCMark benchmarking software has been chosen by the European Commission Directorate-General for Informatics (DIGIT) to specify the minimum required performance for over 100,000 PCs to be supplied to more than 50 European Union organisations. PCMark has also been incorporated into the tendering, procurement and purchasing departments of the governments of France, Northern Ireland, and Brazil.

PCMark is a complete benchmarking solution for business, enterprise, government, and other professional users. PCMark provides procurement departments, supply chain managers, and IT departments with accurate and impartial benchmarks for specifying and comparing the performance of Windows PCs, notebooks, and tablets.

PCMark is developed in close cooperation with the world's leading technology companies including AMD, Compal, Condusiv Technologies, Dell, HGST, HP, Intel, Lenovo, Microsoft, Quanta Computer, SanDisk Corporation, Seagate Technology, and Western Digital Corporation. Developer Futuremark is an independently owned company developing benchmarking software to a strict code of neutrality.

European Union

The Directorate-General for Informatics (DIGIT) defines the IT strategy of the European Commission, providing the EC and, when appropriate, other European institutions and bodies with IT infrastructure solutions and services. One of the main tasks of DIGIT's Procurement and Contracts unit is to acquire computer and telecommunications products and services for the Commission Directorates-General and departments. The unit also issues invitations to tender on behalf of the administration in Brussels.

DIGIT recently issued an invitation to tender for the supply of desktop computers to the European Parliament and more than 50 other European Agencies, Bodies, and Centres located in over 20 member countries. DIGIT used PCMark benchmark scores to define minimum performance requirements for the supply of an estimated 87,100 reference PC configurations and 15,900 specific purpose PCs.

France

In France, L'union des groupements d'achat public (UGAP) is the public procurement and purchasing centre responsible for awarding contracts for services and supplies for authorities and entities subject to the public procurement code. UGAP recently completed the tendering process for the supply of 60,000 PCs, using PCMark to specify the minimum acceptable level of system performance.

Northern Ireland

The Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) employs 18,000 administrative staff across 11 departments. IT Assist, the NICS ICT Shared Service Centre, provides common infrastructure and desktop services to NICS staff in the office, at home or when mobile working. IT Assist has specified PCMark performance requirements in its tendering process for the GBP £2.4m contract to supply more than 20,000 PCs and laptops to the Departments of the Northern Ireland Civil Service, Northern Ireland Office, and their respective Non-Departmental Public Bodies and Agencies.

Brazil

In Brazil, the Federal Government uses its purchasing power to encourage various sectors of the Brazilian economy. The implementation and monitoring of procurement, tenders and contracts is managed by the Secretaria de Logística e Tecnologia da Informação (SLTI), within the Ministério do Planejamento, Orçamento e Gestão.

SLTI recently mandated minimum PCMark benchmark scores as a measure of system performance when purchasing computers for the Federal Government of Brazil, a tender covering more than 61,000 desktop PCs and 13,000 notebooks.

Oliver Baltuch, President of Futuremark, said,


"Organisations that buy PCs in large volumes need to know that they are getting the best value for their money. For two systems with comparable performance, a dollar saving on one could be worth tens of thousands of dollars in total.

"Futuremark benchmarks are being chosen by such organisations for their neutrality, independence, and ease of use, values that are especially important to public bodies and agencies."


Futuremark has been making industry standard benchmarks since 1997. Based in Finland, the company makes the world's most authoritative and widely-used performance tests for PCs, laptops, notebooks, tablets, and smartphones. PCMark is the result of 15 years of benchmarking expertise combined with close industry cooperation to create benchmark tests that are relevant, accurate, and impartial. 3DMark and PCMark are used throughout industry, by hundreds of press publications, and millions of consumers.

Companies and organisations interested in PCMark and other Futuremark benchmarks should call Oliver Baltuch on +1-408-614-2025 (PST) or email sales@futuremark.com.

Find out more about PCMark and other benchmarks for business, enterprise and government users on the Futuremark website, or follow Futuremark on Twitter and LinkedIn for the latest company news.

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About Futuremark®
Futuremark® creates the world's most popular benchmark tests. Futuremark's 3DMark®, PCMark®, Powermark® and Peacekeeper™ tests have helped millions of people measure and improve the performance of their PCs and mobile devices. Futuremark has offices in Saratoga, California and Helsinki, Finland. http://www.futuremark.com/

© 2014 Futuremark® Corporation. Futuremark®, PCMark®, and Benchmark Development Program™ trademarks and logos, character names and distinctive likenesses, are the exclusive property of Futuremark Corporation. The names of other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.