Pres Hires Data Service

Tech firm contracted to host health system’s IT operations

Presbyterian Healthcare Services is contracting the multinational firm T-Systems to manage data center operations and related technical services.

Under the 10-year contract, T-Systems will host Presbyterian’s data storage and management in Houston, Texas.

“It’s a cloud-computing platform that positions us to scale operations up or down, depending on business,” said Presbyterian Vice President and Chief Information Officer Lee Marley. “Our physicians and nurses are becoming more and more reliant on technology to provide care. (This contract) will improve the reliability of our technology, while controlling costs to do things in an affordable way.”

Both Presbyterian and T-Systems declined to discuss the contract’s value.

About 40 Presbyterian information technology specialists will now become T-Systems employees in Albuquerque. No layoffs are anticipated, Marley said.

T-Systems and Presbyterian will also establish a Center of Excellence for Health Solutions in Albuquerque. The partners will develop and showcase technology innovations in things like homebased health care and mobile medical platforms.

“Together with Presbyterian we will work on new IT solutions for the health industry by bundling the required skills and competencies into a dedicated center,” said T-Systems CEO Reinhard Clemens in a prepared statement. “The result will be an overall enhancement to health-care services through mobile solutions for health-care professionals and health applications for patients.”

T-Systems is a subsidiary of German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom. It employs about 48,000 people. It reported $12 billion in revenue in 2011 from contracts with corporate customers.