Deutsche Telekom said a cooperation agreement with Huawei will allow it to compete head on with U.S. service providers including Amazon in the field of public cloud services.
The Germany-based operator plans to launch the Open Telekom Cloud service at the CeBIT event in Hannover in 2016, after agreeing a deal that will see Huawei provide the necessary hardware and expertise. Deutsche Telekom's enterprise division T-Systems will handle customer-facing operations, network, data centre and cloud management, the operator announced.
Ferri Abolhassan, director of T-Systems' IT Division and head of cloud growth initiatives throughout the Deutsche Telekom Group, said the Open Telekom Cloud service would satisfy a desire among business customers for "a European alternative" to public cloud services operated by U.S. companies.
Amazon, the current market leader in the provision of business cloud services, is Deutsche Telekom's main target, Abolhassan told German daily Handelsblatt.
Deutsche Telekom plans to offer companies of all sizes one-click access to computing capacity, memory and hard disc space. The operator said it is moving ahead following a successful trial of the service by 30 companies, which will be used to offer a flexible user interface for the commercial service.
Anette Bronder, director of the newly found T-Systems' Digital Division, said the Open Telekom Cloud service "is designed to be simple, secure, and affordable."
In addition to taking the fight to U.S. companies, Deutsche Telekom said the forthcoming public cloud service will advance its goal of doubling the revenue it generates from business cloud services by the end of 2018. The operator noted that T-Systems' cloud revenues generated double-digit growth in 2014.
For Huawei, the deal builds on a "long, close and trustful relationship" with Deutsche Telekom, said Shengli Wang, a Huawei board member and president of the European Region. "Open Telekom Cloud is the result of innovation and collaboration of both partners," that will enable the companies to "deliver together the best customer experience to our global enterprise customers."
For more:
- see this Deutsche Telekom announcement
- view this Handelsblatt report (in German)
Related articles:
Deutsche Telekom, Samsung prepare 'disruptive' technology to boost LTE cell edge coverage
Alcatel-Lucent confirmed as Deutsche Telekom partner for LTE/satellite network
Inmarsat teams with Deutsche Telekom for in-flight broadband
Deutsche Telekom nears 1.5M quad-play users
IDC: CEE becoming a lucrative market for enterprise mobility vendors
Huawei vows to put Europe in vanguard for new digital industrial era