OREANDA-NEWS. June 24, 2015. Great result in the Experton Group's annual Cloud Vendor Benchmark: Deutsche Telekom and T-Systems achieve top scores among Germany's leading cloud providers in more than ten disciplines, winning the gold medal in the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) category. For the 2015 benchmark, Experton analysts surveyed and ranked a total of 160 cloud providers.

The cloud offerings from Deutsche Telekom and T-Systems gained a positive rating overall for their high data security and data protection standards - an advantage in the cloud market, which is set to reach a volume of more than EUR 12 billion in Germany in 2016. According to Experton "there is still a preference for offerings with high data protection compliance." This is supposedly "so attractive that more and more U.S. IT service providers are choosing to slip under this cloak of security."

The analysts also drew attention to the change in strategy at Deutsche Telekom's corporate customer arm in their cloud benchmark: "Thanks to its own internal transformation, T-Systems has also made the permanent leap to the ranks of the top IT players and is strategically aligning its portfolio with the challenges of the future."

Cloud transformation made easy
Deutsche Telekom and T-Systems scored particularly well in areas crucial to entry into the cloud and managing the cloud infrastructure. It is important to be able to provide tailored support to help customers move into the cloud, said the analysts. Even though around half of all user companies make use of the cloud, only 15 percent feel they are really ready for it. "Cloud service providers therefore still have a way to go to transform their customers for the cloud," warned the Experton analysts.

T-Systems is one of the most heavyweight experts in the field of cloud transformation in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, according to the Experton analysts: "In terms of local presence and neutral cloud consulting skills, T-Systems is surely unique on the market. Customers also profit from the optimum end-to-end approach in operation, delivered from a single source." More than ever, the Deutsche Telekom arm is a must for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and corporate customers.
"T-Systems is an expert in linking and managing entire value creation networks intelligently."

Experton distinguished T-Systems' Cloud Broker with regard to central cloud management, reporting, internal cost charging, and searching for the most suitable cloud offering. It enables users to migrate quickly and easily between integrated IaaS services. "This is the only way to ensure maximum flexibility in using the available cloud services," said the analysts.

Data security through encryption
Experton also sees T-Systems as leading the competition in terms of data security in the cloud. According to the Experton Group, only 17 percent of user companies already use cloud encryption, although encryption would be one response to the NSA scandal. With its partner CipherCloud, the Deutsche Telekom subsidiary offers end-to-end encryption for cloud data. User companies can take advantage for their own cloud infrastructure. "This makes provider-neutral cloud encryption possible, which is so important for data protection, with the keys remaining at the user company," said the Experton analysts. The encryption standard includes applications such as Salesforce, Box, Microsoft Office 365 or ServiceNow.

Workplaces and communications from the cloud
In new cloud areas such as Communications as a Service (CaaS) or cloud workplaces, both of Deutsche Telekom's divisions are seen as leading providers. The conversion to an all IP network has put the issue of telecommunications back on companies' agendas. Experton believes communications to be particularly well suited for cloud operation. CaaS is a "home game" for Deutsche Telekom. The offering is based on technology from leading providers such as Microsoft and Swyx. With Dynamic Services for Unified Communications, T-Systems offers solutions from the private cloud that can be tailored to the individual needs of large companies.

T-Systems' Dynamic Workplace offering continues to set the bar in the market and it further extended its lead in this segment. The cloud workplace comprises a core package (Windows plus virus protection), three optional add-on packages (for collaborative, mobile and offline working) and other optional services (e.g., storage, security and other applications).

Leading position in IaaS
In the traditional cloud field Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), T-Systems and Deutsche Telekom retained their podium positions in the Public, Hybrid and Private categories. T-Systems extended its lead in the self-service public cloud market. Experton: "One of T-Systems' strong competitive edges is its end-to-end responsibility, resulting from a combination of its own network with cloud services from German data centers - under the auspices of stringent German data protection regulations."

According to Experton, T-Systems with its complete vCloud data center is the only cloud platform to meet customer expectations. "The old virtues of T-Systems in the infrastructure segment fit extremely well with a wide range of soft skills needed for an SLA- and API-driven enterprise landscape, say the analysts. The hybrid platform is deemed to be a competitive edge because industry expertise and business skills have gradually been built up and now make for a well-rounded product when combined with network, storage and server skills.

In the managed private cloud segment, where T-Systems has been top leader since 2012, the Experton analysts see the Deutsche Telekom company as a "partner for enterprise customers who in addition to stability and service are looking for an innovator with strategic steering." From setting up dynamic infrastructure through to partnerships with compliance and audit specialists such as PWC or also network players like Cisco, T-Systems increasingly also addresses trend issues under digitization.

Telekom Deutschland is also successful in the IaaS segment for SMEs, with an extensive offering. As a carrier, it offers service level agreements and data protection and security for data centers and assumes end-to-end responsibility.

Good start to PaaS business
With its fresh and well-structured PaaS offering (Platform as a Service) for cloud-based application development T-Systems has gone straight to the leader quadrant.
T-Systems is very well positioned in PaaS business through the Cloud Integration Center. The offering developed in 2014 based on OpenShift is fast becoming one of the most interesting platforms for the integration and development of cloud applications.

About Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom is one of the world's leading integrated telecommunications companies with more than 142 million mobile customers, 31 million fixed-network lines and more than 17 million broadband lines (as of December 31, 2013). The Group provides fixed-network, mobile communications, Internet and IPTV products and services for consumers, and ICT solutions for business customers and corporate customers. Deutsche Telekom is present in around 50 countries and has approximately 229,000 employees worldwide. The Group generated revenue of EUR 60.1 billion in the 2013 financial year - more than half of it outside Germany.

About T-Systems
Deutsche Telekom considers the European business customer segment a strategic growth area. It offers small, medium-sized and multinational companies ICT solutions for an increasingly complex digital world. In addition to services from the cloud, the range of services centers around M2M, security solutions, complementary mobile communications and fixed-network products, and solutions for virtual collaboration and IT platforms, all of which form the basis for our customers' digital business models. The corporate customers unit (T-Systems) and its 47,800 employees around the world generated revenue of around EUR 8.6 billion in the 2014 financial year.