Telstra has extended its information technology (IT) operations and services agreement with IBM until 2014. The five-year contract, which is an extension of an existing services agreement, is worth a total of AU$745million. 
Under the contract, IBM builds and manages Telstra's servers, software and systems. As part of the new services agreement, IBM will move to improve operational delivery while simplifying and streamlining server builds for Telstra, including:
- Implementing a standard set of processes and tools across more than
3000 servers - Adopting a "factory" approach, featuring standardised, repeatable processes, to build and configure new servers for Telstra.
- Defining standard processes, procedures, tools, forms and work products for each phase of a server build
- Implementing streamlined documentation requirements in the areas of design, approvals and changes
- Implementing a consistent server base state for application on-boarding
http://www.telstra.com
