Panasonic outsources email to IBM LotusLive
Cirrus Australia celebrates most successful year at Sydney’s Aria
Cirrus Australia's expansion signals improving business confidence
Flight Centre website takes off with expertise of Cirrus AustraliaPanasonic outsources email to IBM LotusLive
15 January 2010
Switches from Microsoft Exchange.
IBM LotusLive has announced that it has poached Panasonic from Microsoft Exchange and is about to begin its largest ever enterprise deployment of software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications.
More than 100,000 Panasonic employees in various departments will begin the migration, and another 200,000 will follow.
IBM has been keen to boast the scale of the deal, which it claims to be the "largest enterprise cloud computing deployment in history", and the significance of a mature blue chip company moving to the cloud.
"Panasonic would only make this strategic move with the assurance that their daily business workflow will be safeguarded from costly interruptions and intrusions as millions of existing LotusLive users know," said IBM cloud collaboration vice president Sean Poulley.
"When responsible businesses such as Panasonic move to the cloud, they want innovative technologies without compromising security, reliability or privacy. That's why they choose IBM."
Panasonic is the largest Japanese electronics producer, and was ranked as the 89th largest company in the world in 2009 by the Forbes Global 2000.
The firm has made the choice to deploy email, calendaring and contact management software-as-a-service applications in order to support its decision to unify all its global brands under one name.
Panasonic also claimed that the open architecture of LotusLive will allow it to build extensions to its infrastructure without increasing the resources of its IT departments.
"LotusLive is an integral vehicle for our employees to truly function as a globally integrated enterprise," said Mitsuhiro Aoyama, Panasonic Corporate Information Systems Company vice president.
"It will allow us to work securely with our extended enterprise Panasonic partners and customers as if they are all in the same location, bringing the promise of quicker, more efficient teamwork and commerce worldwide."
Analyst firm Gartner suggested that the large-scale move by Panasonic to the cloud will be followed by many other companies in the near future.
Some 40 per cent of businesses will adopt a blend of cloud- and premise-based approaches to meet their unified communications needs by 2012, according to Gartner, compared with an estimated three to five per cent of businesses in 2009.
IBM LotusLive was launched at the company's global event last year, and has so far attracted 18 million users worldwide. More details of the Panasonic deal are expected to emerge at this year's event next week.
Cirrus Australia celebrates most successful year at Sydney’s Aria
04 December 2009
The 2008/2009 year was Cirrus Australia’s most successful year on record. It was a year in which revenue doubled, the Sydney office was significantly expanded, and IBM Premier Business Partner status, the highest level possible, was achieved. Which much to celebrate, in November, Cirrus Australia threw a party for 70 people in the private dining room at Matt Moran’s Aria in Sydney.
The private dining room provided guests with a spectacular view of the Sydney harbour bridge and the Opera House. Geoff ‘Henry’ Lawson, former international cricket player, and Craig Davis, former AFL star, proved to be very entertaining key note speakers. The topic of their presentations was achievement in the face of challenge and adversity. It’s a topic close to everyone at Cirrus Australia, a team that has achieved a great deal in a difficult market challenged by the global financial crisis.
Guests included key customers from across the country, IBM colleagues and members of the media. It was a fantastic night which everyone enjoyed – especially the particularly delicious canapés from one of Australia’s leading chefs, Matt Moran. Matt had promised to pop in to say hi, and he was true to his word. Unfortunately, he left his post in the kitchen while Geoff Lawson was speaking, so we didn’t manage to meet him in the end!
It was also great to attend a party celebrating success – business conditions have been difficult and there has been a lot of negativity. Our party at Aria was to celebrate the exceptional achievement of the Cirrus Australia team and to say thanks to our many customers who we have enjoyed working with throughout the year. It has ended the year on a high note and has everyone looking forward to a new year which we hope will be even more successful.
[TOP]Cirrus Australia's expansion signals improving business confidence
24 July 2009
A growing demand for high quality business solutions has led IBM Advanced Business Partner Cirrus Australia to significantly enlarge its Sydney office. The expansion comes as a result of the employment of all but one staff member from Cri-Tech, a New South Wales based IBM Business Partner specialising in the IBM Lotus platform.
In one of the worst business environments since the depression, Cirrus Australia doubled its revenue and experienced significant growth over the 2008 – 2009 year.
“It’s been our best year on record. While the current economic climate has seen IT budgets slashed, companies have still needed IT solutions that deliver business value,” said Darren Phillips, CEO, Cirrus Australia. Phillips believes business conditions are beginning to improve.
“We are starting to see that customers are putting some of their projects back on track. There’s particular demand in New South Wales . Our recent expansion places us in an excellent position to supply high value, high quality solutions. I expect that we will double our business again in the 2010 year. This will place Cirrus Australia in the top three Australian IBM software business partners in terms of revenue, ” said Phillips.
“Furthermore, this expansion builds upon Cirrus Australia ’s skill base across all five IBM software brands by adding key capabilities in IBM Lotus along with customers such as Kellogs, Electrolux, Mitsubishi Development, Alcatel and Reuters Australia.”
Tony Giles, Managing Director of Cri-Tech, will assume the role of Solutions Architect with Cirrus Australia . He said a key reason behind his team’s decision to join Cirrus Australia was the significant changes made to IBM’s business partner licensing model.
“These changes mean that Cirrus Australia is effectively one of only a few companies in Australia able to deliver the entire IBM software stack,” said Giles.
Giles believes there’s a strong demand among New South Wales businesses for solutions that reduce IT costs while increasing IT deliverables.
“Our combined resources amplify our capabilities significantly. Cri-Tech’s customers will have the same contacts and the same way of doing business as they did before, but will now have access to one of the most comprehensive IBM software skill bases in the country. We’re now in a strong position to assist customers taking advantage of the recovery in the market.”
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Flight Centre website takes off with expertise of Cirrus Australia
23 April 2009
A robust platform and innovative design have been the keys to success behind the newly redeveloped Flight Centre Australia website, according to IBM’s key development partner, Cirrus Australia.
The new website - www.flightcentre.com.au - built by Cirrus Australia, IBM and other business partners on a WebSphere Commerce platform and launched in February, is now proving very popular with visitors because of its great look, ease of navigation and vastly increased functionality. However, Cirrus Australia CEO Darren Phillips said it was the hidden features that were the real success of the project.
"What the visitors see is the great new look, easy navigation and integrated search engine which allows them to shop and book travel with ease. However, behind the glossy exterior is a robust platform designed by Cirrus in conjunction with IBM and other business partners that facilitates an online catalogue, marketing campaigns, and customer shopping experiences," Mr Phillips said.
"When creating a solution for an iconic brand such as Flight Centre, one of the challenges is the product information update. The details and prices of thousands of flights and accommodation change all the time,” he said.
“The updates need to be available on the site as quickly and simply as possible. Previously a manual process was required each time any product on the site was updated. That manual process was time consuming and created room for human error. “The new solution automates most of the update process of the product and online catalogue; and thus brings more reliability, accuracy and efficiency to the business flow," he said.
"Flight Centre has many brands and websites. The platform we have created enables common production information to be updated across all sites once only while also providing a foundation for the integration with other sites.
"The new solution is more stable and faster than the old site with a load-balanced architecture, which automatically balances the load across a number of servers. This minimises the online-access waiting time and the system down time, because the information can be accessed on another server if one of the servers is overloaded or down. "The web analytics features of WebSphere e-Commerce allow Flight Centre to respond to the customer needs more efficiently; thus improving ROI and profitability.
"This was a large project and there are only a few companies with the WebSphere Commerce skills to complete it successfully. Cirrus Australia’s IBM certified staff has a reputation for being among the best in Australia," said Mr Phillips.
