AN IT company has strengthened its relationship with a packaging firm.

Opal has secured a further contract with US-based SGS, who provide designs for companies including Philips and Oreo Biscuits.

The Newcastle-based company has worked with SGS for more than eight years, but due to the American firm’s continued European expansion, Opal has been asked to develop and manage more production systems.

The company will integrate new servers, storage and backup systems across SGS sites in Tamworth, Hull, Belfast, Birmingham and Amsterdam.

Opal will also create a disaster recovery solution to protect SGS against hardware and software failures and natural disasters, such as a fire or flooding.

Andrew Metcalfe, managing director of Opal, said: “We’re thrilled to have secured further work which encompasses many of our key strengths, combining our knowledge of creative and production environments with the best technical solution across multiple sites.

“Given that SGS is a global organization spanning several continents, it’s vital that the company has a robust IT infrastructure which seamlessly connects each site and allows staff to access and share data.”

Jonathan Hadley, IT and facilities manager at SGS, said: “As our business grows it’s vital that we have a more efficient, secure and robust IT infrastructure across our European sites and Opal is helping us to deliver this.”