Oil and gas company Petrom has externalized its data center to IBM, in a contract worth several million dollars and valid for ten years, the two companies have announced. IBM will provide data center services and run Petrom's data center in Petrom City. “[...] The shared use of the space and the facilities will have a positive impact on our costs,” said Reinhard Pichler, Petrom CFO (in picture).

Petrom's data center is located in the Petrom City campus and is powered by a stand alone power plant in the campus. IBM will provide hosting services, cloud computing, business continuity, backup and data recovery in case of calamities.

Petrom City, Petrom's future headquarters, is located in the Northern area of Bucharest and will host the 2,500 employees from Petrom's other headquarters in Bucharest and Ploiesti. The office compound features two office buildings, a data center, a 5MW power plant and 900 parking places.

The company posted a EUR 3.79 billion turnover in 2009, with an profit before taxes of EUR 969 million.  OMV owns 51 percent of Petrom. The rest of the shares are owned by the Romanian Economy Minister, Fondul Proprietatea, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). 6.21 percent of the shares are traded on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

Romania-insider.com