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22.09.2005
Five-year deal includes data center outsourcing for crucial publishing applications
On October 1, 2005, Lufthansa Systems will take over the operation of a number of critical IT systems for
Süddeutsche Verlag Mediengruppe. Up until now, these systems have been operated by Süd-DATA Systemhaus GmbH,
an internal IT service provider which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the media group. According to the newly
concluded agreement, crucial publishing applications - such as the production and editing systems of
Süddeutsche Zeitung, as well as various planning systems - will be operated in the Lufthansa Systems data
center in Munich for the next five years. The IT service provider will also operate content management
solutions and take over the administration of the Lotus Notes e-mail system, which is currently used by some
3,000 people in the media group. Furthermore, Lufthansa Systems will handle Internet access and monitor the
security concept, including the firewall.
Lufthansa Systems won the contract by prevailing over five competitors, among them renowned international IT
service providers. The determining factor in favor of Lufthansa Systems was cost efficiency, coupled with
greater flexibility and transparency compared to in-house IT operation. "In Lufthansa Systems, we found a
service provider whose size is comparable to ours. This gives us reason to believe that our requirements
and processes are being understood as the cooperation will be one among equals," says Dr. Harald Arker,
CIO of the media group.
Süddeutsche Verlag has a complex IT infrastructure which comprises about 200 systems. It uses different
operating systems such as Microsoft Windows, Sun Solaris and Linux as well as various databases like Oracle,
Microsoft SQL, mySQL and Sybase. The failsafe operation of such an IT landscape, which is a top priority for
the publishing group, is a highly challenging task.
"As processes in the production of newspapers are extremely time-critical, they must be supported by
high-availability IT solutions. It took Süddeutsche Verlag Mediengruppe just one tour through our data
center to arrive at the conclusion that Lufthansa Systems is ideally suited to fulfill these requirements,"
explains Stefan Hansen, Senior Vice President Business Division Infrastructure Services at Lufthansa Systems.
"Already, our Munich data center successfully hosts applications for financial services providers, which
have equally high demands with regard to their central IT systems."
Note to editors:
Süddeutsche Verlag GmbH publishes Süddeutsche Zeitung, one of the largest national subscription newspapers
in Germany, and holds stakes in numerous other companies including Europa Fachpresse Verlag (86.5%),
Verlagsgruppe Medical Tribune (86.5%), Süddeutsche TV, Radio Gong 2000 Programmanbieter GmbH (26%) as well as
several companies in the printing and electronic media sectors. In 2004, the media group had 4,283 employees on
average and recorded sales of EUR 664.8 million.
Lufthansa Systems is one of the leading IT service providers for the airline and aviation industries worldwide.
As systems integrator, the wholly-owned subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group covers the entire range of IT services,
including consulting, development, implementation and operation. Lufthansa Systems provides its IT infrastructure
and operations services to a variety of industries. Headquartered in Kelsterbach near Frankfurt/Main, Germany, the
company has branches in Germany and 17 countries and employs about 4,500 people worldwide. In business year 2004,
Lufthansa Systems recorded sales of EUR 628 million.
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