Sports equipment maker Nike signed a five-year support deal with Siemens services division.

The deal will see Siemens provide global service desk, desktop support services and asset management plus bespoke systems.

Nike hopes the deal will deliver consistent service levels globally.

"Siemens will support eleven languages and ensure end-to-end resolution to all incidents and service requests," said Nike’s vice president and chief information officer Roland Paanakker.

Meanwhile Siemens' services division slipped to a €35m (£28m) loss, from an €80m profit in the first quarter of 2007, despite having recently signed contracts to implement large IT projects at the NHS and the BBC.

The company blamed the shortfall on charges related to project reviews.