Telstra expands ADSL2+, launches T-Suite

Telstra has today announced new upgrades to its broadband and mobile networks, as well as officially launching its software-as-a-service portal, T-Suite.

Donald McGauchie (Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet.com.au)

Telstra chairman Donald McGauchie, speaking today at the Commsday Summit in Sydney, said Telstra was upgrading an additional 421 exchanges to ADSL2+ to reach a further 230,000 homes and businesses. The upgrades would be completed within the next 200 days.

A Telstra spokesperson was unable to say how much this would cost the company.

For Telstra's mobile network, McGauchie announced that the telco would spend $42 million to install 141 additional base stations by the end of June this year to improve coverage.

"What it means is that whether people are working at mine sites, working on their tractors in paddocks or simply getting on with their days, more regional Australians are getting the data and voice services they need," McGauchie said.

McGauchie said that the selection for Telstra's new CEO was going well.

Telstra also announced the official launch of its software-as-a-service offering, T-Suite, today. The portal had been outed in a soft launch in November last year. At that time, only a small number of vendors and products was available.

"In the current economic climate, those small businesses are looking for ways to improve cash flow and better manage risks and compliance obligations and we believe the T-Suite service provides a cost effective answer at the right time," Telstra Business group managing director Deena Shiff said in a statement.

"A business simply goes to www.telstra.com/T-Suite, selects the application they would like to use in their business and signs up. The software applications are available 24/7 and are automatically updated with the latest versions. Most applications are available for a free month trial," she continued.

The official launch of T-Suite increased the number of products which were available to users of the portal, with new offerings coming both from the vendors which had already been signed on for the soft launch — Microsoft, Symantec's Message Labs, McAfee and Iron Mountain — and from new vendors.

The new vendors have brought products such as HR software Workforce Guardian, business workflow management software WORKetc, and file sharing application Skoot (Topia Technologies) to the T-Suite fold. Accounting software Xero has also been earmarked for inclusion, but as yet hasn't been added.

More are likely to come, as the telco said it is in discussions with up to 50 local and international software vendors.