Deutsche Telekom acquires SAP European hosting services

SAP is set to sell off its managed services operations

Deutsche Telekom is to acquire SAP's European external managed services unit for an undisclosed sum.

SAP currently provides hosting services to 90 customers running SAP business applications, all of which will be transferred to Deutsche Telekom's T-Systems IT services unit.

The transaction is expected to close in early October if cleared by anti-trust authorities, and will not involve any transfer of staff or fixed assets, according to Deutsche Telekom.

"Even though there will be a transition to a new provider, I am confident that customers will find the gradual transition to T-Systems smooth and very manageable, so they may continue to execute their IT agendas," said Wolfgang Krips, senior vice president at SAP Managed Services.

Olaf Heyden, head of ICT operations at T-Systems, added: "The transaction is the next step [after] the deal with Continental Automotive Group, [and] underlines T-Systems' position as a global leading SAP service provider."

T-Systems scored one of its largest projects yet last week when automotive supplier Continental commissioned the outsourcing provider to operate its entire SAP environment.

Forrester analyst Stefan Ried said that SAP's sale of its traditional hosti ng business would have no impact on its mid-market Business ByDesign software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering, arguing that the sale of its managed services division was a good move.

"SAP is now finding its focus. Running a standard hosting business was not bringing value because it did not have the economy of scale or experience that other players in the market have," he said. "I am pleased that SAP will now focus on its strengths of providing software and SaaS offerings."

The hosting services that SAP uses internally will not be included in the Managed Services transaction, SAP said.