Telecom looks to upgrade software

By RICHARD PAMATATAU

Telecom is considering an upgrade of its email and spam software following multimillion-dollar spending on hardware from tech giant Sun Microsystems.

The hardware upgrade will bolster the resources of Telecom's internet wing Xtra in the face of rocketing email volumes.

Telecom has also signed a storage system upgrade deal with provider EMC and is considering an upgrade for the IBM AS/400 computers which run the ICMS billing system.

That system underpins how Telecom charges its customers for telecoms and internet services. The value of these projects has not been revealed, but they will likely total tens of millions of dollars.

Greg Patchell, Telecom technology strategy and capability general manager, said Xtra carried anything from three to eight million emails a day and boosted systems would help manage this increasing volume.

New versions of Open Wave email software and Brightmail spam filter services are being considered.

The new hardware systems from Sun are costing about $15 million and will make Telecom one of the biggest customers of Sun in New Zealand.

Telecom may become the first site in the world to be running Sun's Sunfire F25K systems.

Telecom has also selected Sun's Java system to run its applications.

Patchell said mobile email was being run through these systems and it had more than enough capacity for the soon-to-be released 3G mobile products and services.

The new boxes will be located in Auckland and Hamilton and the company expects it will be a year before the new systems are completely up and running. He said Telecom's laptop contract with IBM had about two years to go.