Saudi Arabian Airlines sign USD4.1 million SITA contract for technology upgrade ahead of privatization

The contract for SITA's DesktopSelect, includes an equipment refresh and comprehensive migration solution to the latest internet Protocol ( IP) - based Virtual Private Network ( VPN) technology. The contract is valued at $4.1 million over five years and will be implemented in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, UK and USA.

Khaled Bin Abdallah Al Melhem, Director General Saudi Arabian Airlines, said :

"SITA DesktopSelect will provide Saudi Arabian Airlines with a fully managed global desktop service over a new IP network infrastructure. This will help us to reduce significantly the total cost of ownership of IT in line with our future goals and particularly the move towards privatization."

DesktopSelect is a tailor-made solution developed to meet the unique needs of a distributed outstation environment such as that found in Saudi Arabian Airlines. It allows for standardization of the outstation computing environments, removing barriers to the completion of IP migration and replacement of legacy equipment.

Through integration of the newly developed SITA IT Service Management System which is based on ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) internationally recognized standards, DesktopSelect will also provide Saudi Arabia Airlines with significantly improved customer support through a state-of-the-art service desk providing constant real-time monitoring and support without interruption.

In parallel, SITA's IP VPN provides the means to build a more cost-effective and high-performance communications environment with secure global coverage. Its "future-proof" architecture also enables company-wide roll-out of new applications not previously possible (such as Voice over IP). This solution has been proven to streamline business processes and provide a more flexible infrastructure for an easy and secure deployment of software solutions.

"DesktopSelect will provide Saudi Arabian Airlines with an end-to-end solution with predictable infrastructure costs and a service level agreement underpinning a robust IT infrastructure. It will also allow for consistent access to head office applications. The first phase will tackle 70 locations across 13 countries. Additional locations throughout the airlines' network will follow suit in the near future," said Hani El Assaad, SITA Regional Vice-President, Middle East & Turkey.