IBM Inks Services Deal With Emirates Airline

DUBAI—International Business Machines Corp. has signed a 10-year information technology outsourcing deal worth about $300 million with Dubai's Emirates Airline, the American technology giant said Tuesday.

Under the deal, IBM is to provide IT infrastructure as a service, allowing Emirates to more efficiently support passengers, it said.

The services will allow Emirates to encrypt data almost in real time, and to build new apps with functionality other developers can tap into, the company said. IBM services will also help Emirates improve business-management systems and streamline airport operations, it said.

Emirates confirmed the deal, but declined to comment further.

The deal represents a move for Emirates toward managed services, outsourcing much of its IT infrastructure to IBM rather than managing its systems in-house. Many companies have adopted the managed-services model in recent years, in a bid to save money and run more efficiently.

German carrier Deutsche Lufthansa AG outsourced its IT infrastructure to IBM for seven years in a €1 billion deal in 2014. Finnair, Finland's flag carrier, signed a cloud-services agreement with IBM last September. And Etihad Airways, an Abu Dhabi government-owned carrier, reached a 10-year, $700 million IT and investment deal with IBM in October.

Emirates, one of the world's largest international carriers, has long had a relationship with IBM, having used the company's systems for ticketing and reservations for three decades.

The company has its base at Dubai's international airport, the world's busiest for international travel.

Write to Asa Fitch at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 07, 2016 06:05 ET (10:05 GMT)

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