Windows 2000 testbed

By MICHAEL FOREMAN

Microsoft and Fujitsu have opened a Windows 2000 integration centre designed to reduce the inherent risks in implementing large IT projects.

In a separate development, Fujitsu will take on 30 staff, a 10 per cent increase in its workforce, to service a large outsourcing contract it has won from Air New Zealand.

Andrew Falloon, Fujitsu northern region manager, said his company would provide day-to-day service and support for Air New Zealand's mid-range Sun hardware running Oracle databases in a Unix environment.

Unix is used to run most of Air New Zealand's enterprise-wide information technology services, with the exception of reservations.

Mr Falloon said the outsourcing market was picking up and Fujitsu was pitching for several other contracts of a similar size but none was a done deal.

The integration centre will provide an applications testbed where Fujitsu's clients can showcase and prototype projects using Windows 2000 and study its interaction with a wide variety of technology.

Fujitsu New Zealand managing director Bill Beale said the Wellington-based centre was the latest of 17 similar facilities set up by Fujitsu and Microsoft around the world. The centre contained about $300,000 worth of technology but the total investment was close to $500,000.

Fujitsu net solutions manager Ross McKenna said the centre consisted physically of a network of Fujitsu, Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Dell servers but it was more than just a laboratory-type network and could also be used to reduce development project lead times.

Fujitsu staff could assist with a project by assessing "brochure ware" and white papers before beginning "exploratory prototyping" to see how third party hardware and software might work together.

"A lot of people use the request for information/request for proposals concept but you can't plug that into the network and see if it works when the rubber hits the road," Mr McKenna said.

Software available at the centre included Citrix thin client solutions, operating systems including Novell, Unix, Linux and the full Microsoft range.

While most of the hardware was in Wellington, a network connection to a small installation in Auckland allowed some operations to be performed remotely.

Mr McKenna said charges for the use of the centre would normally be absorbed into a consulting project but the centre could also be hired out on a daily rate.

The centre has been running for five weeks before its formal launch but had already become very popular with Fujitsu staff.