Telstra: IT transformation 15 percent done - News - Communications

To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu

--------------------------------------------------------------
This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
--------------------------------------------------------------

Telstra: IT transformation 15 percent done

By Renai LeMay, ZDNet Australia
October 07, 2006
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/Telstra-IT-transformation-15-percent-done/0,130061791,339271515,00.htm

Telstra's move to reduce its internal technology platforms was around 15 percent complete, nearly one year after its transformation strategy was first announced.

The telco released the statistic at an investor presentation in Sydney yesterday, saying it had stopped using 115 applications, with another 75 on the way out.

An additional 58 platforms had been exited or had their use capped, according to Telstra chief executive Sol Trujillo.

In November last year, Telstra said the number of its network platforms would be cut by 60 percent from about 330, and the number of business and operational support systems by 75 percent from around 1200. The move is part of a drive to reduce complexity and decrease costs.

Trujillo said the "first major release" of the telco's IT transformation project will go live in late 2007. The transformation project will take place over three to five years (from last November).

In line with its policy of using off-the-shelf software packages requiring little modification, Telstra has standardised on the following vendors: for billing and customer care systems -- Comverse, Siebel (owned by Oracle), and Intec, while for operational support systems -- MetaSolv, VPI Systems, amdocs, Syndesis, and InfoVista.

Accenture is handling systems integration on the billing and customer care systems, and joins Ericsson, Alcatel, and IBM on systems integration for the operational support systems.

Telstra was meeting 80 percent of its requirements out of the box without modification, compared with a 65 percent "World Class benchmark".

The company had also achieved the following milestones in the last year:

Laid 460,000 km of fibre optic cable
Laid 1.2 million km of copper cable
Installed 1.6 million new ADSL ports
Built over 11,000 high capacity core transmission links
Added 400,000 hours of battery backup capacity
Installed almost 10,000 E1 transmission solutions
Was currently changing the way it scheduled some 25,000 jobs each day
Deployed over 10,000 new tools to its field staff, including GPS, fibre splicing and gas detection units

Telstra said it was on track with its program to reduce 5,000 full-time equivalent positions.

Earlier yesterday, the telco announced its new, nationwide third-generation mobile broadband network, saying 98 percent of Australians could gain access. The network has been dubbed "NextG".