
Size of IS shop: 20
PCs: 488
Mobile PCs: 1100
Terminals: 95
Hand-held devices: 1005
Total screens: 2688
Industry: IT supplier
PC environment: IBM, Lenovo, Linux, Windows XP
Server environment: IBM; AIX; Linux; Windows XP, 2003
DBMS: DB2, Lotus, SQL
Address: The Majestic Centre, 100 Willis Street, Wellington
Website: www.ibm.com/nz
Key IS projects this year: Call manager consolidation; IT infrastructure and services at new site in Petone (Wellington); NZ network redesign; internet gateway refresh; visitor wireless access.
IBM New Zealand’s objectives are to drive year-to-year revenue and profit growth, despite the challenging economic conditions, and continue to capture market share, particularly in fast-growing industries and market segments such as the mid-market.
“Our clients are looking for ways to save money, preserve capital and reduce costs, and IBM can help them do these things,” says Doug Stuart, IBM New Zealand information technology manager.
He says IBM’s IT strategy helps enable business growth by delivering greater cost efficiencies as a result of consolidation, automation and simplification; driving innovation by enabling internal and external collaboration; and improving productivity by giving employees access to tools that enable them to work from virtually anywhere. IBM’s ICT budget has increased this year, although there is a slight decrease in ICT project expenditure compared with last year. In 2008, IBM made significant ICT investment in the areas of unified communications, wireless infrastructure and mobilisation tools and technologies — this will be continued in 2009, says Stuart. There will be a Lotus Notes 8 and Domino 8 upgrade. IBM’s Petone site will also be relocated with associated new-site deployment of ICT systems and technologies. IBM will additionally upgrade its internet gateway this year.
Stuart says IBM is reasonably satisfied with telecommunications services within New Zealand, but is concerned about the cost of inter-metro bandwidth — for example between Auckland and Wellington. Systems and network management along with voice services are currently outsourced to AT&T. Reflecting its status as an ICT solutions provider, all other IBM ICT functions are conducted in-house.
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