By Andy McCue, 5 April 2005 14:25
NEWS IT services firm Siemens Business Services (SBS) has won a €300m contract to run the IT infrastructure for German insurance group Gerling.
The seven-year deal will see SBS acquire Gerling's group IT subsidiary along with 280 employees as the insurance company seeks to cut costs and focus on its core business. Gerling is one of Germany's biggest insurance companies with over 7,000 employees.
SBS will take over, run and maintain Gerling's data centres with IBM and Siemens mainframes running Unix and Windows applications, PCs, laptops, telephones and networks.
The new Cologne-based IT group will be renamed SBI-IS Insurance Services and follows SBS' acquisition of the BBC's technology subsidiary last year to boost its expertise in the broadcasting and media sector.
The deal represents SBS' first major customer win in the insurance sector and Adrian Van Hammerstein, group president of SBS, said in a statement: "There is growing cost pressure in the insurance business and the outsourcing partnership with Gerling could signal a change for the industry as a whole."
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