BERLIN – The German military said Thursday it has tasked a consortium run by Siemens AG and IBM Corp. (IBM) with modernizing and running much of its communication network, awarding a contract worth some 7.1 billion euros ($9.3 billion) over 10 years.
The project, codenamed "Herkules," foresees the modernization of the administrative information technology system and of communication networks for the German armed forces, the Bundeswehr.
According to a statement from the military, that covers more than 140,000 computer work stations, 7,000 servers, 300,000 telephones and 15,000 mobile phones.
Siemens Business Services and Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM's German unit jointly will hold 50.1 percent of a company being founded with the German government, named BWI Informationstechnik GmbH, to carry out the project.
The federal government will hold the remaining 49.9 percent.
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