OPTUS CONNECTS WESTPAC TO BUSINESS CUSTOMERS

Cable & Wireless Optus today announced a $6 million deal to provide more flexible connectivity solutions to Westpac Banking Corporation's corporate, institutional and business customers, by using the Optus Private Internet (OPI) network.

Westpac Head of Product Management, Global Transactional Services, John Hancock, said the Optus OPI network will provide the bank with a secure extranet, allowing the company's corporate, institutional and business customers to access the bank directly for their day-to-day transactions.

"We will use Optus' OPI managed service to connect more than 6,000 customers, either directly via automated scripting or using Westpac's electronic banking service, DeskBank.

"Our key concern is providing secure lines of communication with our customers so that they can send instructions and process transactions as they need to.

"By migrating our existing DeskBank and Leased Line services to a secure extranet environment, we can offer our customers choice. They choose how they want to connect to us from their end, while we offer superior security and transmission performance at our end," Mr Hancock said.

Optus Director Enterprise, John Filmer, said the Westpac deal is another example of Optus' strategy to provide tailored electronic solutions to organisations looking for innovative ways of staying ahead.

"Westpac is enhancing the services they provide, and the Optus e-network will keep their customer solutions at the cutting-edge."

Cable & Wireless Optus is providing a fully managed service to Westpac, enabling the bank to focus on core business. Services include OPI Direct and OPI Dial, managed router services, DSN server hosting and project management services.

"We partner many businesses like Westpac, who are looking for a new way of doing things. We work with companies to assess their unique needs and to provide innovative solutions to meet those needs," Mr Filmer said.

For more information:
Linda Collard
Cable & Wireless Optus
Phone: 02 9342 5045

Liz McGrath
Westpac Banking Corporation
Phone: 02 9284 8221

Note: Optus Private IP (OPI) is a business-grade Internet Protocol network that gives customers the ability to take their business online at a rate they control.