Queensland electricity network provider Powerlink is to seek an extension of its XP support contract while it migrates its fleet of 1300 desktops and laptops to Windows 7.
In departmental documents, the company, which supplies more than 1.6 million electricity consumers in the state, stated that despite support for XP officially ending in 2009, it had been operating under an extended support agreement.
“It is important for Powerlink to upgrade to ensure support past the extended period,” the documents read.
Powerlink is looking to engage the services of an external contractor to assist in the transition.
Its business objectives for the upgrade program of work include delivering a standard operating environment for use with all productivity, communication and business applications and implementing a homogenous operating environment.
Powerlink also wants to reduce desktop maintenance costs by simplifying the build process and reducing the time required to rebuild client computers as well as simplifying the process for introducing new hardware models into the organisation.
Hardware upgrades and Microsoft licensing are not included in the scope of the project.
The project, which is expected to be completed by 30 June 2011, will also see a rationalisation of applications down from its current 500.