Westpac awards data centre contract to Gen-i

Media Release

Westpac awards data centre contract to Gen-i

Auckland, 27 October 2011 – Gen-i, a Telecom New Zealand business, today announced that it has been selected by Westpac for the provision of data centre facilities to the bank.

Gen-i will design, deliver and support a new data centre for Westpac, which is due to go live in early 2012.

The new contract extends Gen-i’s existing relationship with Westpac, providing ICT services across Westpac’s corporate offices, branches and ATMs, to include the housing of its IT infrastructure in a Gen-i data centre facility.

The data centre will be located in Gen-i’s Tier III carrier-grade facility in Auckland, which directly interconnects with Telecom’s main telecommunications exchange on the same campus.

Westpac has selected the Gen-i facility as a replacement for its current data centre in Nelson Street, Auckland.

The new facility features highly seismic-rated buildings, a highly resilient infrastructure design, environmental monitoring and efficiencies, and physical security, with 24x7x365 management processes.

All of Gen-i’s 14 data centres are locally based and have a proven availability that exceeds the Tier III requirement of 99.82 per cent.

As part of its selection process, Westpac engaged international data centre design specialist AECOM to analyse and advise on the Tier III data centre designs of the shortlisted providers.

Jim Stabback, Westpac’s GM for Customer and Technology Services, said that the bank was focused on delivering innovative, flexible and sustainable ICT solutions to support its business goals.

“Our move to Gen-i’s data centre facility will ensure we have our IT securely hosted in the most resilient building available, with levels of network scale, interconnection and energy efficiencies that are unmatched in New Zealand.”

“Gen-i has a strong track record, with over 20 years experience providing data centres with proven availability and SLAs. During the Canterbury earthquakes, Gen-i kept its data centres fully operational and received the highest Civil Defence priorities to maintain essential telecommunications services, which also gave us the reassurance we needed.”

Chris Quin, Gen-i’s Australasian CEO, says the new agreement is a great endorsement of Westpac’s trust in Gen-i to deliver the data centre resilience, and network scale and proximity, it required.

“Gen-i is a New Zealand company dedicated to understanding the needs of New Zealand businesses and government organisations,” says Quin.

“Following the Canterbury earthquakes, we’ve seen increased demand from clients for resilient data centre services as they migrate to hosted or off-premise solutions to meet future business requirements.

We are committed to contributing to the success of Westpac, and our selection to provide the bank’s data centre facilities reflects the cultural alignment of people, processes and technology across the two organisations.”

Gen-i currently integrates and manages Westpac’s access to voice and data network services in New Zealand. Gen-i has a team providing 24x7x365 day support and project services across Westpac’s corporate offices, branches and ATMs.
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About Gen-i’s data centres
Gen-i’s nationwide network of data centres provides hosting services to a broad range of enterprise and corporate clients, local and multinational companies and ISPs.

The carrier-grade data centres support Gen-i’s delivery of outsourced, cloud and network delivered services for its Australasian clients, including Gen-i’s ReadyCloud suite of cloud services.

Gen-i operates 14 locally-based data centres, including several that exceed Tier III and feature some Tier 4 elements, particularly around power and cooling infrastructure.

Gen-i’s data centres are architected and deployed to deliver the highest levels of uptime and are co-located in Telecom exchange buildings. These are highly seismic-rated buildings that provide unmatched levels of network interconnection, scale and proximity.

In addition, the sites receive the highest Civil Defence priority during a crisis or catastrophic event to ensure that essential telecommunications services are maintained, making Gen-i/Telecom a “fourth emergency service”.

Gen-i's data centres feature a highly resilient infrastructure design, with a focus on environmental monitoring and efficiencies. They use the Cold-Aisle Containment design, which Gartner notes having the "single largest payback" of any of its recommended data centre energy efficiency measures.

In addition to strict security standards and leading-edge equipment, these capabilities provide the latest industry solutions at an optimised operational cost. Services include custom-built outsourcing solutions, bundling of voice, mobile, data and hosting on a single invoice, and 24/7 access to a team of skilled engineers.

All Gen-i site facilities are alarmed, monitored and managed by Gen-i's Network Operations Centre, which plays an integral role in the 24x7x365 running of its infrastructure, including business continuity and disaster recovery frameworks.

About Gen-i
Gen-i is at the forefront of helping customers take advantage of the convergence of technology and telecommunications, and the new opportunities this makes possible. Gen-i works alongside its 3,300 corporate, government and business customers to deliver hosted and integrated ICT solutions. A member of the Telecom New Zealand Group, Gen-i achieves this with the support of nearly 3,000 highly skilled people in 17 locations across New Zealand and Australia. For more information on Gen-i, visit www.gen-i.co.nz.

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