Troubled BT subsidiary BT Global Services (BTGS) yesterday
announced that it has signed a five-year, multi-million euro
contract with Commerzbank, one of the largest German financial
institutions, to deliver managed services for the bank's voice
trading systems.
The deal refreshes a 10-year relationship between the two
firms.
BTGS will supply hardware, software and services to
Commerzbank's global business and financial centres, as well as
on-site support at the main trading locations. The first phase will
cover Commerzbank's 650-desk trading centre in Frankfurt, Germany.
All domestic and international centres will follow.
BTGS will deliver and manage the ITS.Netrix voice trading system
and ITS Recorder on the bank's major trading floors.
ITS.Netrix is a specialised voice communications applicaton for
financial traders. It can handle multiple calls and phone
conferences and has a talkback speaker system and integral
intercom. It also supports IP connectivity, secure playback to
desk, and distributed network architecture.
ITS Recorder was developed with BT's OEM partner, Verint Witness
Actionable Solutions.
Roland Schneider, principal project manager and head of
infrastructure program in Commerzbank's Dresdner Bank integration
project, said: "Setting up a trading system as a managed service
means we do not have to worry about planning long-term hardware
investments or having to predict which way technology innovation
will go."
BT's price-per-desk model gave the bank flexibility in a
constantly changing business environment, he said.