Optus has signed a three-year deal to provide managed telecommunication services for the Australian arm of Dutch investment, insurance and banking organisation ING.
With an estimated value of $16 million, the arrangement will see Optus supply ING with managed solutions for all voice and data services. It is good news for Touchbase and Logical, systems integrators for the voice and data projects, respectively.
"Our value-add is the intelligence above the box. We provide a lot of these services to various clients, but Optus and ING are very big names and that is good news for us," said Magnus Maynard, global finance markets leader for Touchbase.
"Telstra is also a client of ours, which means we now provide services for the two biggest telecommunication companies in Australia."
The managed data services will be provided via Optus's Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) Internet Protocol (IP) backbone. Bill Leakey, director for Optus business, said it would provide ING with a fully secure domestic intranet for in-house business and an extranet for interaction with its financial adviser networks.
The managed telecommunications contract will also include telephony solutions for all end users, a single point of contact helpdesk and a Web hosting service.
"We are impressed with Optus's capabilities in the voice, data and IP markets," said Rod Greenway, technology consultant for ING.
