OREANDA-NEWS. ThyssenKrupp AG today have signed a contract with Telekom subsidiary T-Systems for the set-up and operation of central data centers. Before the end of the year, T-Systems will start transferring IT systems and services previously accommodated in around 700 data rooms and eleven data centers to five global data centers.

In addition, over 80,000 computer workstations and 10,000 server systems of ThyssenKrupp worldwide are to be moved to the cloud. The IT resources will then be made available from T-Systems data centers via secure data networks. In the future, ThyssenKrupp employees will get their desktop services including applications such as Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SharePoint and Microsoft Lync directly from the secure cloud.

As a result, employees of the diversified industrial group will be able to use workplace devices around the world flexibly and easily and share data and documents securely. This will make it possible for them to collaborate globally using the same applications and platforms with consistent data and analyses.

Harmonization of the IT (Information Technology) infrastructure is part of the ThyssenKrupp Group’s Strategic Way Forward. Earlier this year in February, ThyssenKrupp contracted telecommunications providers Verizon and Vodafone to operate its global wide area network (WAN). Here too, the aim is to introduce global standards, reduce costs, and improve the quality and security of data traffic. The seven-year partnership with T-Systems covers all present and future Group locations around the world. The contract value is in the triple-digit million-euro range. As part of the outsourcing of the IT infrastructure services, it is planned to transfer around 100 employees from ThyssenKrupp IT Services GmbH to the future service provider.

Klaus Hardy Muhleck, Chief Information Officer at ThyssenKrupp AG: “Today represents a further important step in the integration of our IT landscape. In the future we will work together in a more connected way as part of an integrated group. We are moving away from our previous heterogeneous structures and creating the platform for a forward-looking, integrated, business-oriented and secure IT environment. That will make us more efficient, more flexible and more profitable in all areas.”