Deutsche Telekom to act as Data Trustee for Microsoft Cloud in Germany

Nov 11, 2015

• Longstanding partners deliver increased flexibility and choice of cloud services for German and European customers
• Microsoft Azure, Office 365 and Dynamics CRM Online will be offered from German datacenters using unique German Data Trustee model
• DT business units step up cloud activities across the Group

Today, 11.11.2015, Microsoft announced plans to make Deutsche Telekom the German Data Trustee for its new Microsoft Cloud offer in Germany. Microsoft will offer Azure, Office 365 and Dynamics CRM Online from two datacenters in Germany under a unique model that uses a Data Trustee to control access to customer data. Customer data will only be stored in Germany. The Data Trustee will be T-Systems , Deutsche Telekom’s corporate customer unit. For Deutsche Telekom, expanding the partnership with Microsoft is the next vital step in growing with cloud services for SMEs and enterprise customers.

"We will assume the role of Data Trustee for Microsoft’s customers' data. Through our partnership Microsoft’s customers in Germany and Europe will soon be able to choose a new degree of data protection that complies with the requirements of German business enterprises and many public sector customers," explained Anette Bronder, Director of T-Systems ’ Digital Division.

Microsoft’s hyper-scale, enterprise grade and hybrid cloud services will be highly attractive for businesses of all sizes. "Our business customers stand to benefit from our vast experience and our close cooperation with Microsoft," explained Hagen Rickmann, Sales Director Telekom Deutschland. "We can help them find the right way toward today's crucial digitization of their business processes and integrate secure Microsoft cloud services in our all-IP strategy."

"Over 80% of the Fortune 500 are using Microsoft’s trusted cloud services for their enterprise," said Alex Stüger, Area Vice President for Microsoft Germany. "We’re excited to partner with Deutsche Telekom to provide our customers enterprise-grade, trusted, cloud services, with a unique Data Trustee model that is optimized for the requirements of our German customers."

Microsoft will offer Azure, Office 365, and Dynamics CRM Online from two datacenters in Germany and provide operational and technical support. Deutsche Telekom will be responsible for controlling access to customer data.

Also, Deutsche Telekom is supervising access to the infrastructure that houses customer data at these high-security data centers in Germany which will be operated according to the global security and operational standards for all Microsoft datacenters.

What's more, connections between the datacenters will be made over the highly secure and reliable Deutsche Telekom network. In addition to the Microsoft contract customers will sign an amendment enabling T-Systems to act as the Data Trustee. Under the contract, Microsoft will have no access to customer data unless granted by T-Systems or customers.

Roll-out second half of 2016

Microsoft will begin to roll out the services in the second half of 2016 (additional details can be found at the Microsoft press kit). "Together with Microsoft, we see a big opportunity for the two leading enterprise-service providers to generate growth in Europe," Bronder commented. Deutsche Telekom plans to further consolidate its position in the European cloud services market for business customers and more than double its cloud revenue – currently totaling around 1 billion euros per year – by the end of 2018. Last year, revenue from cloud solutions, in particular in the highly secure private cloud, increased by double-figure percentage points at T Systems alone. The market for services from the public cloud – infrastructure, platforms and applications – that can be accessed through the public Internet promises further growth. In conjunction with partners, Deutsche Telekom plans to pit itself more strongly against the Internet corporations Google and Amazon in the future. To achieve this, the departments within Deutsche Telekom's segments are now stepping up their cloud activities across the Group.

As one of the cloud pioneers, T-Systems has already been providing corporate customers with services from the cloud for ten years. They include multinationals such as Shell, Daimler and Thyssen-Krupp as well as small and mid-sized enterprises.