OREANDA-NEWS. Phonak is extending its IT agreement with T-Systems in Switzerland for the second time in succession. For the next five years too, T-Systems will be running the hearing systems manufacturer’s private network, which spans the world to exchange data between its 20 locations. The major factors in extending the agreement were the familiar high quality of the services Phonak receives from T-Systems and also the availability, reliability and customizability of the IT services provided.

At the same time, the hearing systems manufacturer was also won over by a new approach from T-Systems, which means that in future the complexity and cost of the network services can be graduated according to the requirements of the individual Phonak locations. Small and very small locations will be connected via a cost-effective Internet-based and self-contained private communication network (a so-called VPN) which offers the highest availability and security for data transfer.

“In the last ten years we have developed an excellent relationship with our service provider based on partnership”, says Sven Blumenstiel, Director Corporate IT and CIO of Phonak, about their cooperation to date. “But we are especially delighted that in T-Systems we not only have a partner that we have come to value in the past, but also a service provider that will assimilate our needs for the future and be ready and waiting with suitable solutions. This was a major criterion for extending the agreement.”

T-Systems has been running Phonak’s worldwide communication network for almost ten years. In 2004 the ICT service provider implemented the IP-based corporate network (MPLS) at a time when Phonak was centralizing and standardizing its ICT infrastructure. Since then T-Systems has looked after the centrally controlled IT network solution for the hearing system manufacturer, which has more than 8,900 employees worldwide, provided monitoring and 24x7 network support, and successively connected new locations.