Optus scores $143m Federal Gov't telecoms contract

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 09 December 2008 04:10

IT Industry - Strategy

Optus has scored a four year contract from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIC) to provide 'whole of business' telecommunications services, worth an estimated $143 million.

Optus was awarded the contract in April and it came into effect on 1 July 2008, but it has taken until today for Optus to announce it.

Optus has been providing services to the Department since 2001 but the current contract was put out to competitive tender and represents a significant expansion on the services provided under the previous contract.

In particular, the department is moving to IP telephony based on a Nortel IP PBX and is upgrading its wide area network to IP and will transition all its wide area network (WAN) services to Optus' new IP network, Optus Evolve.

Optus and its ICT services subsidiary Alphawest will implement a 'virtualised' contact centre solution and roll-out VoIP to more than 7,000 seats in 30 DIAC locations. VoIP will be provided using a Nortel Communication Server 1000 provided as a managed service by Optus and hosted in a geographically redundant configuration within the DIAC network. DIAC will also use the Optus 3G network, including Optus wireless broadband, for its 2000 strong mobile fleet. Optus is also providing an on-site service delivery team to manage all aspects of DIAC's communications, including network monitoring and capacity planning.

John Simon, managing director, Optus Enterprise and Business Group said: "This agreement emphasises the combined strength of Optus' latest generation IP network, Optus Evolve, with Alphawest's ICT capability to drive increased productivity and collaboration through the use of IP technologies. The move to Optus Evolve will, according to Optus, provide DIAC with a platform for converged communications.

Optus launched Optus Evolve, a new IP-VPN/MPLS network based on Juniper core and edge routers, in late 2007 and said that it would, over time, replace its original Cisco based IP-VPN/MPLS network and would position Optus Business "for rapid growth in the Australian business communications market...at the forefront of converged network solutions." It described Optus Evolve is "an application-aware network that delivers business grade IP services using multiple levels of QoS."

In June 2008 Optus added SIP trunking and Internet access services to Evolve, the first new modules since the launch, and said that ethernet services, would be launched towards the end of the year. Scott Mason, general manager products and services said that a whole series of enhancements, including video, were planned.