Telecom New Zealand (ASX: TEL) subsidiary, Gen-i, has extended its existing IT contract with Westpac NZ to include data centre services.
The data centre, which is set to go live in 2012, will be located in Gen-i’s Tier III facility in Auckland, which connects with Telecom NZ’s main telecommunications exchange on the same campus. Westpac NZ selected the Gen-i facility as a replacement for its existing data centre in Nelson Street, Auckland, after going to tender.
In-depth: Data centre migration guide.
Westpac NZ customer and technology services general manager, Jim Stabback, said in a statement that the migration to Gen-i’s data centre would ensure its IT infrastructure was securely hosted in one of the most “resilient buildings” available in New Zealand.
“As part of our selection process, we engaged US-based data centre design specialist, AECOM, to analyse and advise on the Tier III data centre designs of the shortlisted providers,” he said.
However, Stabback would not say who the other shortlisted providers were.
According to Gen-i Australasia chief executive, Chris Quin, the new facility includes seismic-rated buildings, environmental monitoring and physical security.
“Following the Christchurch, Canterbury earthquakes in February 2011, 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,” he said in a statement.
Gen-i also provides ICT services across Westpac’s corporate offices, branches, and automatic teller machines (ATMs).
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