Some state governments are outsourcing their information technology (IT) operations. Reasons for this include outdated IT infrastructures, limited funding to upgrade their systems, and an upcoming exodus of the baby-boomers from the workplace. States that have strong public-employee labor unions, however, are hesitant to use outsourcing as a means of containing costs. In November 2005, Virginia became the first state in the nation to completely outsource its entire IT operations to one vendor, Northrop Grumman. The $2 billion deal will ensure that jobs are not lost, however. Northrop Grumman has committed itself to upgrading Virginia's outdated IT infrastructure with new voice and video networks, consolidate the state's 50 data centers into two new ones, and merge 72 help desks into one. The upgrades are expected to cost about $270 million. Because only a portion of the new data centers will actually be used for Virginia state government IT needs, Northrop plans to outsource the excess to other state and municipal governments, as well as businesses. The company has also agreed to keep Virginia's 1,200 IT employees, who will be given the choice to either retain their public-employee status or become employees of Northrop. Meanwhile, Texas has made a deal with IBM to outsource its IT operations. The contract stipulates that IBM will provide the Texas Department of Information Resources with identity management services, e-mail, and collaboration software, which the state will then resell to other Texas-based government agencies and out-of-state governments. Texas also released a request for proposal in March 2006 for the outsourcing and consolidation of its data centers.