Optus picks Cisco for new HQ
Optus has picked Cisco as its key network infrastructure vendor for the telco's massive new headquarters in the Sydney high-tech suburb of North Ryde.
When it announced the construction of the new building back in November 2004, Optus said it would relocate approximately 6,500 employees to the facility starting in July 2007.
"We were selected to deploy all the network infrastructure for Optus's new campus at North Ryde," Cisco's local managing director Ross Fowler told journalists at the vendor's annual Networkers conference on the Gold Coast this afternoon.
Fowler said the rollout would initially encompass some 7,500 Internet Protocol-based (IP) telephone handsets, as well as network and wireless infrastructure, and Cisco's Unified Communications enterprise collaboration technology. Cisco is expected to soon release a statement with more details of the deployment.
Optus subsidiary and local integrator Alphawest will deploy the hardware.
Fowler claimed the decision to go with Cisco was influenced by the vendor's service oriented network architecture (SONA) technology. Service oriented architecture in general is a concept referring to a technology environment where resources are made available to users as services disassociated from their underlying platforms.
"We discussed the whole SONA architecture. They went down an architectural path," said Fowler. "And when they understood the power of that architecture, that's what swung the decision."
Fowler declined to reveal the value of the Optus deal, while a spokeswoman from the telco could not immediately comment on the issue.
Renai LeMay travelled to the Gold Coast as a guest of Cisco.