Long-standing partnership extended: K-Businesscom remains ICT Managed Services partner of Gas Connect Austria

Gas Connect Austria GmbH is one of Austria's most important infrastructure companies: it operates a high-pressure natural gas pipeline network in Austria that is around 900 km long. In addition to supplying Austria, these pipelines are used to transport natural gas to Germany, Italy, France, Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary. In order to be able to concentrate fully on its core business, Gas Connect Austria has been relying on ICT (Information/Communication Technology) solutions and services from K-Businesscom since 2012 and has placed large parts of the operation and management of its network and IT infrastructure in the hands of K-Businesscom.

Vienna, September 19, 2018 - As an economically stable partner with many years of managed services experience, K-Businesscom was able to extend the existing contract, including corresponding extensions. This includes a new media technology service, updates to the IT processes and adjustments to the technical solutions to bring them up to date.

"Due to its important infrastructure role, our company bears a great responsibility for private and industrial gas consumers. We are an important part of the European natural gas network and supply large parts of Europe via the central natural gas hub in Baumgarten. Absolute reliability is therefore particularly important to us. With K-Businesscom, we have a partner we can rely on. This local partner also gives us the guarantee that data security is ensured in accordance with the latest Austrian standards," explains Stefan Wagenhofer, Managing Director Gas Connect Austria.

"We are delighted with the great trust that Gas Connect Austria has placed in us. The contract extension is a further step in a successful partnership for both parties. Thanks to our nationwide presence as a leading ICT service partner, we can also meet the new requirements in the best possible way," explains Jochen Borenich, MBA, CEO of K-Businesscom AG.

Gas Connect Austria relies on local sourcing

Gas Connect Austria's managed services contract with K-Businesscom covers numerous solutions and the associated services. In recent years, the entire ICT infrastructure has been rebuilt and all existing applications have been migrated to this ICT system. In the first phase, K-Businesscom took over the operation and management of the Austria-wide network and data center infrastructure for several hundred national client systems, including mobile device management for employees, and operates a service desk. K-Businesscom also provides the infrastructure for business applications, operates office applications and is responsible for security, infrastructure capacity and lifecycle management, including the control center infrastructure. The Managed Services contract was extended for a period of five years and expanded to include media technology services; the technical solutions were adapted to the current state of the art and the IT processes to the current standard of service provision. As part of the contract extension, the data centers will also be relocated within Vienna.

Due to the particularly high security requirements, K-Businesscom is also subject to very strict conditions (particularly with regard to availability, IT security and service levels). The entire operation and all associated services are carried out by K-Businesscom in accordance with established international standards such as ISO, ITIL and PMA.

Gas Connect Austria is a natural gas transmission and distribution network operator headquartered in Vienna. The company has 280 employees and is anchored at 6 locations in Vienna, Lower Austria and Upper Austria. Starting from the Baumgarten natural gas hub, Gas Connect Austria operates a modern and powerful high-pressure natural gas network with connections to Germany, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary as well as to storage and production facilities. 900 kilometers long, the pipeline system includes 5 compressor stations, 40 metering and transfer stations and over 100 transfer metering points. The core business is the marketing of transport capacity at international border points and for the domestic supply of natural gas. With a marketed entry/exit transport volume of 150 billion m³ per year, the company is an important hub in Central Europe. As a customer-oriented logistics service provider, the company is constantly developing its products and services to meet the needs of the market. Gas Connect Austria is a 51% subsidiary of the OMV Group, 49% are held in a 60:40 ratio by Allianz Capital Partners and SNAM. Gas Connect Austria itself holds stakes in AGGM, AGCS, TAG GmbH and PRISMA and is a member of ENTSOG and GIE.

As a leading digitalization partner,K-Businesscom supports companies in improving their business performance and developing new business models. K-Businesscom acts as a consultant, system supplier and service provider. With its comprehensive expertise in dealing with large amounts of data and security as well as a large number of successful use cases in numerous industries, K-Businesscom is the ideal companion for digital transformation. The extensive portfolio in Austria, Romania and the DACH region includes technology solutions for intelligent and, above all, secure ICT infrastructure, smart building, media and security technology as well as outsourcing services. K-Businesscom relies on vendor independence and partnerships with leading global providers such as HPE, Cisco and Microsoft as well as a broad network of partners from research and industry-specific solution providers - from start-ups to large corporations.

K-Businesscom has over 17,000 customers - e.g. Allianz, Erste Bank, ÖBB, OMV, ORF or Vodafone - and supports them locally and globally. Around 1,200 K-Businesscom employees generated revenue of around EUR 318 million in the 2017/18 financial year.