Germany's Commerzbank has outsourced the management of 33,000 workstations and 12,000 printers to Hewlett Packard (HP) as part of a five year IT services deal.
Under the agreement HP will deliver to Commerzbank a range of IT services, from infrastructure provision to desktop lifecycle management, as part of the HP End User Workplace portfolio.
The vendor says it will provide Commerzbank with desktop, network, print and server management as well as help desk services.
Commerzbank says the deal will allow it to focus on core business processes, standardise IT services worldwide and help lower its costs.
"This agreement will help Commerzbank achieve cost savings and variable costs as well as help drive IT innovation to support our growth," says Frank Annuscheit, Group COO, Commerzbank.
Around 100 Commerzbank employees will transfer to HP as part of the deal.
In a separate development, neighbouring Dresdner Bank has struck a deal with Atos Origin to take over the maintenance and development of IT applications within its private and business banking units. As part of a seven-year agreement, more than 200 IT experts will be transferred to Atos Origin.
"This partnership is an important step towards strengthening our
application development," says Dr. Friedrich Wöbking, member of Dresdner Bank's management board. The long term collaboration of both companies will pave the way for reacting faster, more efficiently and more flexible to new requirements in IT banking, he adds.