Unisys Modernises NZTA’s IT Infrastructure

News Release /

Unisys Modernises New Zealand Transport Agency’s IT Infrastructure by Migrating 1.7 Billion Records to Windows Platform

New platform allows department to reduce costs and offer services via a greater range of online channels

Unisys Corporation (NYSE: UIS) today announced that it has successfully migrated more than 1.7 billion driver and vehicle records for the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) in the final stage of a business transformation programme designed to increase the agency’s flexibility and reduce the cost of its IT infrastructure.
The NZTA is responsible for New Zealand’s land transport system, including the implementation of laws, regulations and rules. Unisys has worked with the NZTA for more than 20 years, supporting the driver and motor vehicle registries systems through which agents, commercial customers and the public interact with the agency. These mission critical systems support approximately 1 million daily transactions and support core business operations for the NZTA.
The NZTA embarked on the migration project four years ago. While the agency’s prior legacy system was extremely reliable and met its performance needs, the NZTA needed to modernise its IT infrastructure to address end-of-life support issues, quickly reflect New Zealand’s increasingly frequent legislative changes and to improve the online experience for New Zealanders.
“The NZTA is committed to using technology to reduce operational costs while improving how we deliver services to customers,” said Mr Craig Soutar, the NZTA’s CIO. “Unisys developed and implemented an innovative modernisation programme that allows us to develop web and mobile-enabled applications and provides more flexibility in the way that we engage with our customers.”
The NZTA used Unisys Application Advisory services to define a ‘mission critical modernisation roadmap’ for enhancing the agency’s software platforms. This included identifying the issues, risks, objectives, guiding principles and expectations of the NZTA as well as assessing the current business and technology capabilities and defining the ideal future state of the business and its supporting technology.

As part of the modernisation programme, Unisys migrated the department’s driver licence and motor vehicle registries to a Windows-based Unisys ES7000 and ES3000 platform running Unisys Agile Business Suite. The migration effort involved more than 1.7 billion records, almost 350 database tables, 500 reports, 65 APIs and approximately 700 green screens. The ES7000 and ES3000 servers are hosted in Unisys’ Auckland and Kapiti data centres.
The NZTA estimates that it has saved approximately NZ$80 million through the modernisation effort compared to the cost of replacing the registry systems.
“Modernising our existing systems by migrating them onto a Windows platform has reduced system complexity to aid faster response to legislative changes as well as provided the opportunity to develop new online and mobile channels to engage with customers. We achieved our business transformation without the need to completely rip out and replace our systems, and continued to deliver services to our customers in the process. It is an approach that other organisations seeking to modernise their IT infrastructure should consider,” Mr Soutar said.
Ms Kate Giles, Sales Manager, Technology Consulting Integration Services, Unisys New Zealand, said that ensuring the agency’s business continuity was a key focus during the migration.

“The central register is a critical element in the agency’s infrastructure as it holds all information about drivers’ licences and motor vehicle registrations in New Zealand. We needed to modernise the IT infrastructure while continuing to deliver our ‘business as usual’ services such as accommodating legislative changes in the agency’s systems. Recent major legislative changes implemented while the transformation was taking place include new road user charges and the introduction of an alcohol interlock programme,” said Ms Giles.

About Unisys
Unisys is a worldwide information technology company. We provide a portfolio of IT services, software, and technology that solves critical problems for clients. We specialise in helping clients secure their operations, increase the efficiency and utilisation of their data centres, enhance support to their end users and constituents, and modernise their enterprise applications. To provide these services and solutions, we bring together offerings and capabilities in outsourcing services, systems integration and consulting services, infrastructure services, maintenance services, and high-end server technology. With approximately 22,500 employees, Unisys serves commercial organisations and government agencies throughout the world. For more information, visit www.unisys.com.

About Unisys Asia Pacific
In Asia Pacific, Unisys delivers services and solutions through subsidiaries in Australia, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, The Philippines, Singapore, and Taiwan and through distributors or resellers in other countries in the region. For more information visit www.unisys.co.nz. Follow us on www.twitter.com/UnisysAPAC.

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