Citibank has signed an agreement with Indian IT services provider Wipro to take over the operation and management of Citi’s data center in Meerbusch Germany, a suburb of Dusseldorf.
In conjunction with the transaction, Wipro has taken the data center from Citi and intends to use the site to support other outsourcing clients. Citi will lease back office and data center space from Wipro for at least 30 months, and Wipro will provide Citi with facilities management and physical infrastructure management services during the period.
The Meerbusch, Germany center will be Wipro’s first data center facility in Europe and is expected to enable the company to offer a full portfolio of infrastructure management solutions to its global clients.
Wipro expects the data center to support the delivery of its mainframe, Windows, Unix, Linux and AS/400 outsourcing services. In addition, the company plans to extend its Dynamically Adaptive Infrastructure (DAI) cloud platform to the German data center.
The facility is comprised of approximately 9,000 square meters of total space, including approximately 1,700 square meters of raised floor. The facility meets the standards for a Tier III data center and has been owned and operated by Citi for more than 20 years.
Sameer Kishore, president of Wipro Infocrossing, the data center outsourcing practice of Wipro, said: “The addition of a data center in Europe represents an important milestone in the company’s growth strategy. In 2007, Wipro acquired Infocrossing, a US-based provider of data center outsourcing solutions. The addition of the data center delivery capability enabled Wipro to compete more aggressively for large, total outsourcing engagements in the US.
“The Meerbusch facility will enable Wipro to extend its capabilities to the European market and strengthen the company’s ability to compete for global outsourcing opportunities.”