Erding near Munich was chosen as the home of Amadeus's technical operations when the company was established by four European airlines in 1987 to take advantage of Germany's efficiency.
This apocryphal tale based on a perceived national stereotype is probably not entirely true, but operational efficiency is nevertheless vitally important for a technology firm the size of Amadeus.
In these days of virtual reality, wireless technology and cloud computing, it's easy to believe our computing activity is something that somehow happens magically leaving no physical trace of its existence.
But a tour of Amadeus's nerve centre - the largest privately-owned data centre in Europe - reveals how industrial an undertaking supplying travel agents and airlines with air fares, processing bookings and running product searches is.
The Amadeus data centre was originally planned to be hexagonal, but as of today remains only half built.
This is good news for the company and for the future of technological development, because it means the massive advances in processing capacity progress demands are being absorbed within current facilities.
New-generation mainframes and a process called "virtualisation" - basically getting better use out of servers - mean greater efficiency is possible cutting down requirements for space.
But the data centre must still be supported by a huge infrastructure. Amadeus's centre has back-up systems for its back-up systems to ensure its servers are safe and provided with a regular, reliable and uninterrupted source of power.
Just as crucially, the three server rooms - known as fire cells because they are self-contained, sealed units - require an immense amount of cooling. Air enters via vents in the double floor at 18C and leaves through ceiling extractors at 27C, before being passed though the cooling system and recycled back round.
Here's a look at one of the fire cells (top) and a room of air conditioning units (bottom):
All this requires power, constantly. Amadeus, which runs the systems for some of the world's largest airlines, including British Airways and Lufthansa, simply cannot afford to have any downtime.
A new generation of mainframes are allowing more efficient use of space, and the latest come with their own internal water-cooling systems.
The data centre also has a power supply from rechargeable batteries and three rooms that house large marine diesel engines.
These are more than enough to power the centre for up to three days and capacity in the air-conditioning units, in separate rooms, is also more than required. The company's n+1 system (what is necessary and beyond) is extended to the servers.
Data processing for any one customer is not limited to one of the fire cells and everything is replicated, so it is not possible, for instance, to wipe out Lufthansa's or BA's booking system by pulling a few plugs out.
Security at the data centre is tightly controlled - just a small team of the 550 employees who work the site are allowed access.
Some of these are in the two, four-strong fire teams for whom Ghostbuster-style fire-fighting equipment hangs on the wall just outside the final security door.
This is important as the CO2 fire-extinguishing system is deadly for anyone caught in a fire cell during an emergency. The fire extinguishing system has gone off just three times in the centre's history.
So why is all this important? Surely all data centres take as much care of their most precious asset. Amadeus says that what sets it apart from its competitors is that all these complex and costly operations are not outsourced.
Ian Wheeler, marketing and distribution vice-president, said: "We have a tremendous responsibility to provide high-quality operational excellence. Owning this facility and the way we run it, is critical.
"If we outsourced we would have to negotiate every change and we do not think that is the way to deliver some of the efficiencies demanded by the industry."
Erding trivia
> Its computers contain 150 million lines of code
> It is the only data centre in Germany to attain TUV energy efficiency certification
> Its annual power bill is €4m
> It process 680 million transactions in 2009
> It is protected by a tank ditch (a throwback from the days of the Berlin Wall)
> It has metre thick walls
> Carpets feature IATA aviation codes
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