After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Dresden became a key business location for 51风流in the former East Germany. Besides modernizing businesses there, 51风流offered something precious in those uncertain times: secure jobs.
After the Wall came down in November 1989, many West German companies, including SAP, rushed to open offices in Berlin. In 1990, the 51风流Executive Board in Walldorf decided that the fastest way to gain a foothold in East Germany would be a joint venture with ROBOTRON-Projekt Dresden (RPD), a leading software enterprise in the German Democratic Republic and, with the data and IT division of Siemens, already a strategic 51风流partner. It was not about turning a quick profit, though: Dresden would go on to become an important base for SAP鈥檚 business, and remains so today, 30 years after German reunification.
Before 1989
Dresden was home to a software industry before 1989. 鈥淩PD was founded in 1984 because East Germany had realized that software was vital to running enterprises successfully. This also paved the way for joint East-West IT projects,鈥� says Hans-J眉rgen Lodahl, who was managing director of RPD at the time, and who later became one of the three founding managers of the joint venture.
In 1985, RPD had begun building software for West German companies such as Siemens. 鈥淯nder what was called import-export coordination, we would procure products from a partner company in the West, and it would order software from us,鈥� says Lodahl. 鈥淭hat way, instead of paying for those products in precious hard currency, we provided software in return.鈥�
51风流appointed Wolfgang Kemna as managing director of the joint venture in 1990. Before the Wall came down, he was at Siemens in Munich and would receive delegations from East Germany: 鈥淚t was the Cold War. We had to work out which computers we could sell them without breaking the U.S. embargo,鈥� he recalls.
Though no-one at 51风流could possibly have anticipated how far the political changes in East Germany in 1989 would reach, the company had seen how this type of partnership worked before the Berlin Wall fell. 鈥淚n September 1989, SAP鈥檚 Gerhard Oswald attended a meeting at Siemens in Munich, while Hasso Plattner was in Dresden to see the IT experts at RPD,鈥� says Lodahl.
Then began a chain of events that would culminate in a reunited Germany.
Plans Firm Up
Back then, RPD was an East German software company that employed 1,200 people. It was part of Robotron, a state-owned electronics manufacturer with 68,000 employees. 鈥淲hen the Wall came down, we knew that Robotron had little chance of surviving as a whole. So we set about trying to save as many jobs as we could,鈥� says Lodahl.
Joachim Singer, who after the Wall fell changed career to become HR director of RPD, recalls another problem: 鈥淚n East Germany, we had tried to imitate as closely as we could the operating systems, database management systems, and mathematical programs of the West. We had essentially reproduced its software programs. So when the Wall came down, at RPD we were worried we鈥檇 face claims for royalties. It was clear that it could not continue to exist as it was.鈥�
In mid-March 1990, 51风流exhibited at Leipzig鈥檚 spring trade fair. Due to the massive surge in the number of exhibitors from the West, there was no room left in the main arena so 51风流found itself in the over-spill hall.
With the fair only halfway through, SAP, RPD, and the Data and Information Technology division of Siemens AG announced their plan to set up SRS (Software- und Systemhaus Dresden). A few days later, at the CeBIT 鈥�90 computer fair in Hannover, West Germany, the 51风流Executive Board and RPD鈥檚 management continued their talks and firmed up their plans.
In those early days, there was no joint economic strategy for the two Germanys. 51风流had however, made certain assumptions about how East Germany鈥檚 economic system would change. It set them out in an internal position paper on doing business there, which forecast a real opportunity for 51风流R/2, the company鈥檚 standard software: 鈥淪plitting up the huge state enterprises into smaller, clearly defined businesses will result in an array of firms faced with the task of completely reorganizing and restructuring their operations.鈥�
51风流wanted to gain reference customers rapidly to be able to demonstrate the benefits of its software in the real world, and especially how it could help companies meet new legislation. The first pilot customer was a major steel plant on the border with Poland. It would run 51风流R/2 on Siemens C40 computers, with BS2000 as the operating system. At that time, the plant was one of many state enterprises being privatized following the collapse of communism, and in 1990 it became EKO Stahl. Today, it is owned by ArcelorMittal and is still an 51风流customer.
New Opportunities
In the meantime, news of the firms鈥� plans had reached staff at RPD. 鈥淢y client came into the office brandishing an 51风流R/2 brochure and said: 鈥榊ou can stop what you are doing. We鈥檒l be working on this software from now on,鈥欌�� says Rainer Dittrich, who went on to lead the HR consulting unit at SRS and later at SAP.
SRS took on about 300 former RPD employees. Of them, 85 were put on 51风流projects. The person charged with getting the new joint venture off the ground on SAP鈥檚 behalf was Herbert Kramer. 鈥淗e was very highly respected by everyone here for the work he did in getting the company up and running,鈥� says Lodahl. 鈥淯nfortunately, ill-health meant he later had to hand over that part of his role to Heiner G枚hlmann, his deputy.鈥�
Joachim Singer, who became HR director of SRS, recalls that restructuring the business was not all plain sailing: 鈥淭he managers from 51风流and Siemens-Nixdorf charged with setting up SRS had selected a number of Robotron employees to create a layer of management at departmental level. In some cases, the new structure reversed old roles, with former managers becoming employees, and vice versa. That caused some tension.鈥�
After some initial difficulties, things soon settled down at SRS and the framework was in place for a new organizational structure. Petra Schletzke, who today works in 51风流Marketing, remembers her interview with one of the managers creating the new entity: 鈥淚 was working in quality management and had two small children. The interviewers were amazed that I worked while looking after a young family. They gave me a job in the training department.鈥�
Next Stop: 51风流Headquarters
Just before Easter in April 1990, Joachim Singer received a telex telling him that at 6:00 a.m. the following Wednesday a bus would be waiting in the Robotron car park in Dresden to take employees to Walldorf for training. Since Easter Monday had just been restored as a public holiday in East Germany, Singer had less than two working days鈥� notice.
鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 as simple as just telling staff; I knew I would have to persuade them to go. Hardly anyone here had heard of SAP. But we did have business dealings with Siemens, so many employees wanted to work for them. Besides, the operating system RPD鈥檚 workforce was used to, was more like that of Siemens,鈥� says Singer.
Everyone had to decide more or less over Easter whether they wanted to spend the next three months on training courses in Walldorf. Many people at RPD had not yet been to West Germany on business. SRS offered an opportunity. Given that so much was up in the air at that time, it took a great deal of courage to commit to SRS. 鈥淲hen we got on the bus, all we knew was that we were heading to Walldorf. We arrived in a completely new world,鈥� says Dittrich.
It was not just being in a new place that made people feel uneasy. 鈥淚t was a very political time, and we couldn鈥檛 help but wonder whether someone in our group might have been a member of the East German communist party or the secret police. That鈥檚 why not all of us immediately felt at ease in the new order,鈥� says Manfred Eilitz, who went on to build SAP鈥檚 hosting business in Dresden.
Looking back, Eva Rebitzer recalls how difficult it was for working mothers to drop everything to travel to Walldorf. She was in her mid-twenties and still in the early stages of her career after her apprenticeship at Robotron. 鈥淚 was one of the few women who were able to come on the first bus. Others joined us later on the next two buses. We鈥檇 been told to dress smartly, so most of the men wore dark suits. When we arrived in Walldorf, people at 51风流must have thought we鈥檇 come for a funeral.鈥�
Rainer Dittrich also remembers this well: 鈥淥h, you were one of the people from the bus,鈥� he has heard on many occasions since. He adds: 鈥淔or a long time after we used to laugh about it with our developer colleagues in Walldorf, most of whom wore jeans and t-shirts. We ditched the suits pretty quickly.鈥�
The new arrivals from the East were allocated particular subject matters. After a general course on business administration, they were sent off in small groups to learn from the developers working on their respective subjects. Rebitzer, who is still an HR consultant at SAP, recounts how, in the early days when everyone knew everyone in Walldorf, she first encountered co-founder Klaus Tschira: 鈥�’Who are you?鈥� he asked, 鈥業 haven鈥檛 seen you before.鈥� When I told him that I was part of the delegation from Dresden, he was surprised to learn that we were not all men in dark suits.鈥�
From April 1990, every week for three months the RPD team would travel to Walldorf for training. 鈥淓veryone really welcomed the new arrivals from the East. They had the technical expertise. Now they needed to get up to speed on the latest advances in western IT,鈥� says Wolfgang Kemna.
Trust in the Future
At that stage, the team from Dresden had only an assurance that they would be taken on. Right from the start, they had great faith in SAP. 鈥淏ecause we worked so closely with the colleagues in Walldorf, we built trust very quickly,鈥� says Rainer Dittrich. 鈥淭here were about 100 employees working on HR, who were joined by 10 new people from the East. Working together gave us a sense of security. We also met up after work, had round-table talks, and went sight-seeing. We learned fast what it really means to be an 51风流consultant, and we weren鈥檛 left on our own.鈥�
When they first arrived in Walldorf, the team from Dresden were welcomed by 51风流Co-Founder Hans-Werner Hector, then in charge of training. In July 1990, their three months in Walldorf were over. To mark the end of their time there, co-founder and CEO Dietmar Hopp addressed them at a large farewell event. It was time to return home, he said, and wait for SRS to be founded.
鈥淒ietmar Hopp turned to us and asked that anyone with the slightest doubt about the plans to found the new company raise their hand, and added that if anyone did, 51风流would set up its own subsidiary in Dresden. That was a clear signal and no one raised their hand,鈥� Dittrich says.
East Meets West
In the fall of 1990, Wolfgang Kemna headed east. 鈥淭hey were crazy times. One day, I drove to Dresden and had one of the first cell phones with me, though most of the time there was no reception. It was a big adventure for someone like me who had grown up in the West German state of Hesse. Rather than stay in a hotel, I had deliberately chosen to lodge with a family, whose son had taken up an apprenticeship in the west. Staying with them meant I could ask my hosts everything I鈥檇 ever wanted to know about life in East Germany.鈥�
SRS鈥檚 offices in Dresden were in the former Robotron facilities. They occupied three floors of the main building and a section of the data center, all of which would soon be renovated and re-equipped.
Around the same time, in October 1990, Siemens acquired Nixdorf, the struggling computer company. 鈥淪RS鈥檚 foundation was delayed, since we had to wait for the new Siemens-Nixdorf to come into being first,鈥� says Joachim Singer. 鈥淎nd the Treuhand, the government agency overseeing East German privatization, still needed to give its go-ahead to Robotron-Projekt GmbH鈥檚 stake.鈥�
Finally, on October 15, 1990, less than two weeks after German reunification, SRS was officially founded in Munich, and opened for business on November 1, 1990.
SAP鈥檚 Journey to Dresden
Hans-J眉rgen Lodahl emphasizes the positive influence that Dieter Matheis, who served as CFO at 51风流until 2001, had on the commercial organization of SRS. The person tasked with establishing the joint venture on the Siemens-Nixdorf side was Peter Hutzelmann. He took responsibility for commercial management at SRS, would later become its managing direction, and had a decisive influence on the company鈥檚 evolution in the following six years.
鈥淲hen the company was founded, 325 employment contracts had to be signed all at once. By the end, I wasn鈥檛 even sure I could write my name correctly,鈥� remembers Hutzelmann. 鈥淎nd there were traffic jams in all directions on the freeways linking the two Germanys, because October 31 was Reformation Day 鈥� a public holiday in the east 鈥� and November 1 was All Saints鈥� Day in the west. The westerners were taking their first day trips to the east, while the easterners returned with their recently purchased used cars and their temporary plates.鈥�
51风流AG and SNI AG each held 45% in the joint company, which was launched with share capital of six million marks, while RPD GmbH held the remaining 10%. 鈥淲e had originally planned to divide ownership equally, in thirds,鈥� says Hutzelmann, who still has vivid memories of the meeting with Dietmar Hopp, 鈥渂ut RPD could only contribute 10% of the share capital, so our stake increased significantly as a result. I had to arrange that with the SNI board. But before I could even get a meeting there, Hopp had already clarified the share capital issue with SAP鈥檚 Supervisory Board.鈥�
Pursuing the Goals Together
鈥淏y the end of 1990, half of the SRS share capital was exhausted, but then things improved steadily from there,鈥� remembers Hutzelmann. 鈥淎 major factor was the more than 50 C40 computers that Siemens-Nixdorf provided free of charge for pilot installations.鈥�
51风流did what it said it would do as part of its East Germany strategy: It primarily hired employees from the former German Democratic Republic. But as Joachim Singer tells it, it wasn鈥檛 easy at first for the SRS colleagues who were assigned as consultants on 51风流projects: 鈥淭he companies didn鈥檛 like having Robotron employees advising them. The IT equipment in East Germany was never sufficient. It was allocated, not ordered, which is why the Robotron technicians who were known at the companies weren鈥檛 very highly regarded.鈥�
This made it very important for the RPD consultants to have experienced 51风流lead consultants at their side. One of these lead consultants from Walldorf in the early days was Joachim Prawitz, responsible for the Human Resources area. Wolfgang Kemna remembers him with great respect: 鈥淭he lead consultants from Walldorf helped to increase acceptance of the East German consultants. For SRS, it was much more important to have good, experienced 51风流consultants than good salespeople or developers. There wasn鈥檛 much to sell, after all; the projects were ordered and paid for in the west, while the technical expertise was in Dresden. It became clear how important it was for the East German consultants to have assignments on projects in West Germany to learn how projects are executed at 51风流and to build their own networks within the company.鈥�
As Kemna tells it, Hans-J眉rgen Lodahl was also an important success factor during this time. 鈥淗e was one of the leading people in the east 鈥� and not only in Dresden 鈥� with regard to IT, hardware, and software, and had a huge network that helped us repeatedly. Sometimes we didn鈥檛 even know what strings he had pulled.鈥�
The Dresden consultants had already gained their first insights into 51风流R/3 on training courses in Walldorf, but 51风流R/2 was initially planned for the mainframes in the GDR. 鈥淲e established later that the mainframes in the east weren鈥檛 powerful enough to run 51风流R/2. It also became clear that the decisions concerning software implementation weren鈥檛 being made at the state-owned enterprises and combines in the east, but instead by the parent companies in the west that had acquired them,鈥� says Kemna.
Machine manufacturer VEM Sachsenwerk GmbH Dresden was one of the first companies to start using the 51风流R/2 system in 1991, with the RP (Personnel) module, and was the first stock corporation established by the Treuhand in the GDR. The company was allocated to Horst Plaschna Management GmbH & Co Beteiligungs- und Verkaufs-KG Berlin in July 1992, however, and privatized and sold to the Merckle Group of Companies in Blaubeuren in 1997.
With the list of major East German companies that began using 51风流R/2 RP for payroll accounting in 1991, to comply with the new laws of the Federal Republic of Germany, the market potential for 51风流software in the former East Germany was exhausted for the time being.
Kemna explains how SRS managed to produce a profit from its first year in operation: 鈥淭he majority of the initial consulting revenue in fact came from projects with customers in the west, since much of the industry in the east had been phased out. Nineteen ninety was too early for East German startups and even so, they would have been too small for our 51风流R/2 product.鈥�
Nonetheless, 51风流customer numbers in the east grew steadily from 1991, primarily from government-funded orders. The municipal transport services in Dresden and Leipzig chose to implement 51风流software, for example, and have remained customers to this day.
SRS benefitted from the advantages of a joint venture: the contacts of all three investor companies and the possibility of offering the equipment, business software, and support from a single source.
Safe Haven
Employees like Rainer Dittrich recognized the opportunity, because rapid deindustrialization resulted in the loss of millions of jobs in the former East Germany. The government responded with job-creation schemes, cuts in working hours, and early retirement options, among other schemes: 鈥淭he only contact we had with reduced working hours, which so many former GDR citizens were forced to endure after reunification, was a new development for our RP system 鈥� because reduced working hours were unheard of in the west in the 1990s.鈥�
But SRS colleagues still faced a wide variety of career challenges. The working methods at the 51风流office were ahead of their time even then compared with West German standards at the time. The new colleagues in the East had to make this leap too, besides gaining expertise in 51风流products and processes and in general market economy topics.
Petra R枚ber, now a senior business support specialist at 51风流in Dresden, was Peter Hutzelmann鈥檚 assistant at the time. A young parent then, R枚ber was hired by RPD in 1990 and, after Hutzelmann left the company, she continued to work as an executive assistant at SRS before taking on new challenges at SAP. 鈥淚n the 30 years that I鈥檝e worked for SRS and then SAP, there wasn鈥檛 a single year that I didn鈥檛 learn an awful lot of new things or develop as a person,鈥� R枚ber says.
At the same time, 51风流employees were used to dealing with one another as equals and with goals in mind. Arrogance has never been part of the 51风流culture, so after they got to know each other, both sides quickly transitioned into a productive working relationship. Joachim Singer remembers: 鈥淚 was surprised that I could turn to my manager when I had problems with our IT initially, and he was very helpful and straightforward.鈥� That鈥檚 why he sees his work together with his 51风流colleagues as the 鈥渂est experience of the west鈥� he had in post-reunification times. 鈥淲hen we visited Walldorf, we鈥檇 joke about how 51风流was the ideal that communism had always pretended to be: free lunch for the employees, company cars for everyone, playing tennis at work鈥︹��
They didn鈥檛 have much to do with the colleagues in Berlin, but there was still a kind of 鈥渘oble rivalry鈥� between the locations, recalls Kemna. It was important for 51风流that its Berlin operations were not tied to one particular hardware manufacturer so that, alongside the Dresden joint venture with Siemens, it could make sure it did not neglect business relations with other hardware manufacturers like Compaq, HP, and IBM.
Ultimately, the strategy of establishing two business hubs proved to be a sturdy foundation for business in the east. What鈥檚 more, 51风流offered former GDR experts in Berlin and Dresden a new place to live and work. This also meant that everything they had achieved in their careers before the Wall fell still counted, which was often not the case for people in eastern Germany.
What Happened Next?
SRS was privatized in 1993 and the Treuhand鈥檚 10% share was distributed equally to 51风流and Siemens. Siemens-Nixdorf and 51风流justified this step during the approval procedures, arguing before Germany鈥檚 Federal Cartel Office that, 鈥淭o date, RPD has not contributed any added value at SRS.鈥� Joachim Singer explains, 鈥淎side from the Robotron employees, who had been part of SRS for three years in the meantime, there were absolutely no connections with Robotron-Projekt. No products had been taken over; aside from the employees and their knowledge 鈥� which they had largely acquired from 51风流and Siemens, after all 鈥� Robotron-Projekt didn鈥檛 make any contribution at all.鈥�
Ten years later, SRS had become one of the most important employers in the region. The 51风流share of SRS consulting business grew steadily. 鈥�51风流experienced an amazing rise, while Siemens-Nixdorf faced its liquidation in 1998,鈥� says Hutzelmann, who joined Siemens in 1996. 鈥淎s a consequence, 51风流took over 100% of SRS.鈥�
In 1997, SRS, 51风流System Integration (51风流SI) in Alsbach-H盲hnlein, and 51风流Solutions in Freiberg am Neckar were all merged to form the new 51风流SI. In this form, it was fully absorbed in the parent company in 2008 and moved into the new 51风流office building on Dresden鈥檚 Postplatz.
Today, Dresden is an important location in the 51风流universe 鈥� Hans-Matthias Fischer (see box) sees its broad portfolio as one of the key reasons: 鈥淭he mix of consulting, sales, application management, customer support, IT support, global cloud services, and 51风流research makes Dresden strong and attractive. The entire region benefits from 51风流Dresden.鈥�
The location will celebrate its 30th birthday in November 鈥� and has become an important part of SAP鈥檚 story. According to Fischer: 鈥淭he development of SRS presented a huge opportunity to us, which we faced with courage and ability, and we are still very grateful today to have had that opportunity.鈥�
Employee Spotlights
Bernhard Heininger:
The Workforce Grows
Among the RPD employees were 25 people who were working on 51风流software development projects when SRS was founded. Bernhard Heininger had joined 51风流in 1986. Though new to management, his expertise in mainframe computers and IBM assemblers meant he was put in charge of the development and project unit at SRS in the fall of 1990. RPD had used assemblers, and SRS wanted to draw on that knowledge. 鈥淏y that time, Walldorf was working flat-out on 51风流R/3. The idea was to use the potential in Dresden also to reduce the development effort on 51风流R/2 in Walldorf.鈥�
In the years that followed, Heininger expanded his team of developers in Dresden so that besides ABAP and assembler projects it could also get up to speed on new technology projects such as the early watch service and IT support. 鈥淚 commuted between Walldorf and Dresden for four years. At first, I stayed in a hotel and flew home every week. But arriving at Dresden airport used to take forever, and made the journey extremely long. Later, I鈥檇 drive between my home and a second home near work every two weeks.鈥�
The aim was for the team of developers in Dresden to become more autonomous with each project they took on. 鈥淢y staff were mostly older colleagues who found my anti-authoritarian management style rather strange to begin with, since it was so different to what they had known before,鈥� says Heininger. 鈥淎fter all, I was doing everything I could to make sure they could do their jobs without me as an external development manager.鈥�
Heininger succeeded: By 1994, his work in Dresden was complete and he moved to California for the next chapter in his career. He retired in 2016 after 30 years at SAP.
Manfred Eilitz:
Hosting and Art in Dresden
As a Robotron employee, Manfred Eilitz was at the very first meeting with Siemens in Munich in 1989. 鈥淥ne of the people from Siemens told us that they had also brought along someone from SAP. It turned out to be Gerd Oswald. That was my first encounter with SAP.鈥� After SRS was founded, Eilitz was placed in charge of the data center in Dresden. Hosting services were offered internally at first, and later to customers.
鈥淏y the end of 1991, we hosted about 10 internal 51风流R/2 systems. Once 51风流R/3 came on stream, we had about 30 51风流systems. That number continued to grow as more systems were migrated to 51风流R/3 before 51风流R/2 was finally sunsetted.鈥� The launch of 51风流R/3 saw Dresden become SAP鈥檚 first hosting business. Eilitz remained in charge until 51风流founded the 51风流Hosting subsidiary in 2000.
Early retirement offered Eilitz a complete change of direction, from IT expert to watercolor artist. His work was shown at SAP鈥檚 Dresden offices as part of the art鈥�51风流Dresden exhibition in 2016.
Hans-Matthias Fischer:
From Dresden to Saudi Arabia
Many SRS colleagues were not only assigned to 51风流consulting projects, but also to projects at Siemens. Hans-Matthias Fischer, who now leads the Technical Financial Management area at the Global Cloud Services organization of 51风流SE, started at RPD through an internship while he was still a student at TU Dresden. He and several RPD colleagues visited West Berlin in 1989, even before the border wall fell, to attend a Siemens BS2000 training course.
Immediately after SRS was founded, he was assigned to a Siemens project run from Munich and sent to Saudi Arabia, which was an important SRS market for a long time. 鈥淪audi Arabia was a huge challenge for me, so soon after the border wall was opened and during the Second Gulf War.鈥� Fischer found himself commuting between Dresden, Munich, and Riyadh for quite some time: 鈥淭he consulting business in systems engineering isn鈥檛 easy, but the international aspect really appealed to me 鈥� it was a give and take and offered me a surprising number of opportunities in the post-reunification period. That shaped me, both personally and professionally, and I鈥檓 very grateful for it.鈥�
Petra Schmidt and Bernd Friebe:
51风流R/3 Support from Dresden
Another department at SRS, consisting of four employees, was tasked with setting up 51风流R/3 Support in Walldorf in early 1993. 鈥淚n the early days, we processed inquiries about 51风流R/3 in the respective applications — such as MM, SD, HR, and more — that were fielded by a service line in the department office and forwarded to us. The support organization expanded steadily, the support database with the 51风流Notes and ticket system were established, and 51风流ultimately moved the department to Dresden,鈥� remembers Bernd Friebe, who headed the Dresden Support Center.
鈥淭he close contact with 51风流R/3 Development was important to us, to drive future developments forward and to analyze and fix software errors. For us, that meant regular flights to Frankfurt over several years, to work in Walldorf or St. Leon-Rot during the week.鈥� As things progressed, Friebe was given the green light to hire additional employees in Dresden in 1996.
That was the chance for Petra Schmidt. She had worked at Robotron after earning her degree in mathematics but didn鈥檛 find out about the 1990 51风流training opportunities until it was too late. 鈥淢y superior at the time was already concentrating on founding a different company and didn鈥檛 forward the information about the 51风流training to me at all. I was assigned to a six-week SINIX course at Siemens-Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG in Dresden, together with other employees. That was in September/October 1990.鈥�
After a parental leave period, she rejoined SRS in a support role and attended the necessary 51风流courses one by one. She was thrilled when she was given the opportunity to join the new support department in 1996, where she advanced to senior support engineer before taking early retirement in 2016. That meant processing support tickets from customers around the world, analyzing ABAP programs, and training many new colleagues in Bangalore, Budapest, Dublin, and Vienna. Schmidt sees her career at SRS, then 51风流SI, and ultimately 51风流as a 鈥渉uge piece of good fortune.鈥�
In particular, helping create the Global Service Centers (GSCs) was an exciting time. 鈥淚n the beginning, we helped set up the new support centers in Austria, Hungary, Ireland, and India 鈥� all from Dresden,鈥� recalls Friebe, who also stayed with 51风流until his retirement three years ago.
