BT Plc | January 19, 2011 | Press Release
British Consul General opens BT’s technology showcase in Sydney to highlight key investments for 2011
BT, one of the world’s leading providers of communications solutions and services, announced an update to its investment programme in Australia and the broader Asia Pacific region at the launch of its new ICT facility. BT’s Sydney Customer Innovation Showcase facility was opened by Richard Morris, British Consul General and Director-General of UK Trade & Investment in Australia and New Zealand.
The new facility is part of BT’s ongoing investment programme to deliver crucial communication services that support Australian, UK and multinational companies to effectively expand into Asia and other emerging markets.
At the event, BT announced it is creating over 50 new jobs in Australia and has hired more than 80 executives across Asia since September 2010, to expand its capabilities in five key growth areas. It plans to recruit upwards of 300 new professionals across the region by the end of 2011.
These areas of investment will deliver additional resources, infrastructure and services to meet demand from Australian and Asia Pacific organisations looking to expand into new markets. It brings the latest video conferencing equipment and networked IT applications all together under one roof and enables business customers to interact directly with leading edge technologies and services. These Network centric & IT transformation services include:
o WAN optimisation
o Next generation contact centres
o Unified communications
o IP telephony
o ICT innovation
Speaking at the opening, Richard Morris congratulated BT and said: “BT’s 25 years of success in Australia further underlines its status as one of the UK’s great global companies. The UK has Europe’s second biggest ICT sector and the digital expertise of companies like BT supports so many of the UK’s other strengths in areas including life sciences, defence, creative and aerospace.
“The UK is Australia’s sixth largest two-way trading partner and the second largest foreign direct investor in Australia, investing another AU$34 billion last year. It’s great to see British investment in Australia continue to rise as companies like BT make the most of the significant business opportunities here.
“BT’s new Showcase Centre will provide the latest communications infrastructure and expertise to help Australian and British companies, as well as other multinationals, to succeed across Asia-Pacific.”
Paul Migliorini, Managing Director, BT Australasia, said: “A significant proportion of our major Australian customers are expanding into Asia and other global markets. We’ve found that having consistent communications infrastructure and services to support that is a high priority for organisations, not only in increasing their business efficiency, but also in lowering operational costs.
“As we look forward to the next 25 years in Australia we believe our investment in these five key areas will best support the growth of Australian enterprises and ensure we deliver valued ICT advice, solutions and service capabilities for the region.”
BT’s customer technology showcase centre at BT Tower, Sydney brings to life the digital networked economy for businesses and demonstrates first-hand BT’s leading networked IT services and their applications for local enterprises. Its opening follows the launch of BT’s Hong Kong Showcase in September & Beijing in November 2010 and is part of the company’s investment programme in Asia-Pacific to recruit 300 people across the region in the first year.
//
