Volkswagen AG Expands Its Business Relationship With T-Systems

FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Germany, April 2 -- Volkswagen AG and T-Systems have extended their existing general agreement for the provision of communications services by a further three and a half years. In addition, the partners have expanded the agreement to include IT services. This agreement forms the basis for a wide-range of services dealing with telecommunications and IT at plants in the Volkswagen Group worldwide. As a strategic partner of Volkswagen, T-Systems has been developing and operating innovative data communication solutions for ten years. The solutions have enabled Volkswagen to optimize its processes in both production and administration. The new general agreement with the Group amounts to an order volume of around 20 million euros by the end of 2006.

The Deutsche Telekom subsidiary has been setting up and operating a Telekom Designed Network (TDN) tailored to meet the needs of the car company since 1993. Among other projects, all of the German production plants -- in Emden, Brunswick, Salzgitter, Hanover, Kassel, Moselle, Dresden -- as well as the Wolfsburg headquarters, have now been linked to each other by means of broadband wide area networks (WAN).

T-Systems has ensured the flow of data against failure by means of redundant connections. Each VW plant is thus simultaneously linked to the main site in Wolfsburg via an ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) connection and via standard fixed connections. The Wolfsburg headquarters is even protected against failure by means of two separate ATM connections, plus standard fixed connections. This high level of redundancy ensures uninterrupted data exchange.

Link to the ENX communications platform

T-Systems has also connected Volkswagen to the car industry's ENX (European Network Exchange) international communications platform. ENX connects manufacturers, systems suppliers and suppliers, enabling them to work together across companies in complete security. For that purpose, the operators use such things as the latest encryption technology, and have integrated an in-house trust center from T-Systems. T-Systems has linked Volkswagen to ENX via two access points.

Teleworkers at Volkswagen AG are also connected to the internal systems -- either via broadband ATM-DSL access or ISDN. Employees who access the ATM platform directly currently enjoy data transfer speeds of up to two megabits per second. A VPN (virtual private network) guarantees a secure connection that protects against unauthorized access and that transfers data via the public network.

T-Systems is one of Europe's foremost ICT service providers. Within the Deutsche Telekom Group, the company serves the largest business clients. With a workforce of about 43,500, T-Systems is located in more than 20 countries worldwide. In 2002, the company posted sales of 11.3 billion euros and an adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of 1.15 billion euros.

The purpose of T-Systems' solutions is to achieve sustained improvement in the business competitiveness of its customers in the industry sectors telecommunications, services and finance, public and healthcare as well as manufacturing. For its customers, the company optimizes processes, cuts costs and improves earnings, making targeted use of industry expertise and cutting-edge technology.

Its services range from the integration of new ICT solutions into existing customer systems, through the implementation and operation of desktop systems, data centers and networks, all the way to telecommunications services and solutions for international carriers.

For more information about the company and its services, see www.t-systems.com .