DnB NOR and EDB extend collaboration

Norwegian DnB NOR and EDB Business Partner have signed an agreement to extend DnB NORs existing contracts for centralised IT operations and administration through to July 2009. The collaboration will give DnB NOR access to benefits in the form of savings in IT costs which formed part of the basis for the merger between DnB and Gjensidige NOR. This new part of the overall contractual relationship will represent business volume for EDB of around NOK 2 billion over the period 2006 - 2009. The agreement confirms that DnB NOR and EDB intend to agree the terms of a final detailed contract by 1 July this year. The final contract will include Unix and mainframe operations, print and distribution services and user support, as well as the development and management of applications services and related consultancy services. The contract is independent of which core system DnB NOR chooses to convert to. In addition it is expected that, if the parties reach agreement on the detailed terms, EDB will support DnB NOR with the conversion process to integrate the new financial groups IT systems onto a single platform. The final volume of business represented by the new contract is dependent on detailed negotiations in the areas subject to the framework agreement and the extent to which the contract applies to the conversion process to integrate the former Gjensidige NOR and DnB platforms. However the expanded agreement is provisionally estimated to represent business volume of approximately NOK 2 billion over the term of the contract (2006 to 2009). EDB currently supplies central operating services for both Gjensidige NOR and DnB under the terms of separate contracts that run to 1 January 2006 and 1 July 2006 respectively. EDB also supplies a range of applications services. The new agreement will replace these contracts and run to 1 July 2009, representing a new five-year period. The current contract between EDB and DnB for distributed services will be considered separately.