Success is the word for Gen-i across Tasman

By RICHARD WOOD

Computer services company Gen-i has made a good start to its foray across the Tasman - expecting to turn over $11.2 million in its first year of operation.

Staff in Melbourne and Sydney at present number 36 and the hunt is on for another 10 to 15 to meet commitments.

Latest word in the Australian market is that Gen-i has signed an 8000 to 10,000 user deal with Australian insurance group IAG and its parent NRMA. This comes following its work with IAG's New Zealand subsidiary State Insurance.

Another similar-sized Australian deal is also in the wings.

Key to Gen-i's success is its focus, in the Australian market, on Citrix-based server computing - a sector that has grown significantly despite the downturn in the IT industry.

Citrix Australasian revenues were reported to have grown 40 per cent last year. Its server computing software eliminates the need to buy new personal computers by putting Microsoft Windows' graphical user interface on a so-called "thin client" terminal. Older PCs can also be used as terminals in this fashion.

Ironically, this brings computing full circle after PCs displaced "dumb terminals" and large central computers over the past two decades.

In New Zealand, Gen-i is a $125 million business with more than 400 staff.

Australian managing director John Bessey said that when it entered the Australia market last May the company capitalised on the intellectual property developed at Gen-i New Zealand. It then hired mostly Australian IT staff.

"We now have the largest number of qualified Citrix people in Australia."

Mr Bessey said the company had implemented 13 out of the 20 leading server-based computing implementations in Australasia.

Gen-i Australia plans to increase its staff to 300 in the next three years.