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Telstra and Hyatt International Sign $US8.4m Global Outsourcing Agreement NEW YORK --(Business Wire)-- July 15, 2004 -- MPLS Technologies Drive Efficiency Improvements While ASP Services Centralize Hotel Management Functions, Enabling Hyatt International to Focus on Its Core BusinessTelstra Incorporated, a leading global provider of advanced communications services to multinational corporations, announced today that it will provide Hyatt International Corporation with a multi-year, global service integration package exceeding $US8.4m. Under the terms of the agreement Telstra is providing a scalable, advanced, MPLS-based, managed services platform linking Hyatt International's headquarters in Chicago with hotels throughout Europe, South America and the Asia Pacific region. The agreement outsources Hyatt International's network management and hardware provision to Telstra, allowing Hyatt to concentrate on its core business activities - promoting its brand and marketing its hotels. "Telstra's turnkey solution integrates the provision and continuing management of local access, CPE, and security-enhanced Internet services," said Mark Retnam, Director of Global WAN Services for Hyatt International, Chicago. "Telstra worked hard to enable us to meet our objectives on-time and to rapidly develop the 'go to market' business solutions required by Hyatt International." "A good example of this," Retnam explained, "is the rapid provisioning of services at the Grand Hyatt Beijing, where Telstra had to meet Hyatt's requirements of provisioning within 40 days. Telstra met this challenge, helping Hyatt avoid the overlapping costs of vendor transition and the complexity of interim solutions. As our global integrator, Telstra is making our global IP backbone network even more leading edge, cost effective and efficient." Because the Telstra service is founded on MPLS technology, Hyatt has been able to make a number of efficiency improvements in its systems operations. Hyatt consolidated its customer reservation and accounting activities into common Shared Services Centers so that it can provide consistent services to customers from wherever they call. In addition to this, the Telstra network links into a centralized ASP providing Hyatt's property management functions to all hotels, rather than locating a server and IT team at each hotel to manage this application. These initiatives ensure that systems for hotel bookings, restaurants, etc. are consistently managed. The MPLS technology enables Hyatt's mission critical customer reservation system applications to retain a guaranteed percentage of the bandwidth to optimize the experience of Hyatt's internal customers. "Telstra was prepared to commit to robust SLAs and has more than met the reliability Hyatt was looking for," stated Gebhard Rainer, Hyatt's Vice President of Finance and Technology. "This gives us greater flexibility while maintaining the highest standards for the customer experience." "Telstra's continuing commitment to finding innovative solutions for Hyatt International was a major determining factor in winning this contract," said Dan Kerth, President of Telstra Incorporated. "We look forward to helping Hyatt continue to grow its businesses and push the envelope by deploying new advanced applications in hotel management." About Hyatt International Corporation There are 210 Hyatt hotels and resorts around the world, which are managed by two separate groups of companies. Subsidiaries of Hyatt International Corporation operate, manage or franchise 88 hotels and resorts in 38 countries, with an additional 23 hotels under development. Hyatt Corporation, a separate company, and its subsidiaries operate, manage, franchise or lease 122 hotels and resorts in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. Reservation or information for any Hyatt hotel worldwide can be obtained by calling toll-free in the United States and Canada, 1-800-233-1234, your local Hyatt Hotel or Worldwide Sales Office, or your travel planner. Hyatt is accessible on the Internet at www.hyatt.com. About Telstra Incorporated Telstra Incorporated is the US-based subsidiary of Telstra Corporation Limited (NYSE: TLS), Australia's full service telecommunications and IP services provider and a leading carrier in the Asia Pacific region. Telstra Incorporated excels in global network integration and account management and focuses on servicing multinational corporations with requirements in the Asia Pacific region and around the world. Telstra operates the most diversely routed IP backbone network in the Asia Pacific and one of the most technologically advanced global networks. Telstra offers an extensive portfolio of innovative solutions which include voice, mobile, broadband, IP, MPLS and managed services. Telstra's network extends to more than 230 countries and territories with points of presence (POPs) and networks in all major Asian, European and American markets. Telstra has Net sales of over US$15 billion, ranks in the top five of the largest carriers in the world in terms of overall financial and dividend performance, and has assets in excess of $US20 billion. Telstra Corporation is traded on the Australian, New York and New Zealand stock exchanges under the TLS ticker symbol. For further information visit: http://www.telstra-usa.com. |
