Telstra: Reducing IT Infrastructure Costs with High-performance Virtualization Platform

In 2008, Telstra Corp. Ltd., Australia’s leading telecommunications and information services company, embarked on a redesign of some of its IT infrastructure to improve operational processes and reduce costs.

Telstra worked with Accenture to define a program that leverages server virtualization technology.

Telstra is an Australian company that owns and operates national fixed line, mobile, broadband and cable networks as well as several online businesses. The company supplies services to consumer, business, enterprise, government and wholesale customers. In 2010, it generated AU$24.8 billion in revenue.

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Telstra embarked on a redesign of some of its IT infrastructure to improve operational processes and reduce costs, working with Accenture to define a program that leverages server virtualization technology. Telstra wanted to accelerate the lead time for IT deployments and reduce operational costs.

The nature of its applications was limiting the ability to share server and storage infrastructure. Server deployments were taking several months with the existing infrastructure processes and tools, which delayed the rollout of new business applications. Applications were managed on siloed infrastructure that resulted in inflexible and inefficient processes that could block Telstra from fully using its existing hardware investment.

Accenture worked with Telstra to define and then implement the new virtualization environment, including the migration of applications. Accenture completed the implementation for Telstra in three phases.

• First, an assessment of the server estate was completed to establish a clear cost baseline and identify virtualization candidates.

• Second, a server virtualization shared service was designed, built and deployed in four strategic data center locations.

• Third, the Accenture team is conducting the physical- to virtual-server migration and the operation of the shared service.

 To date, the platform is hosting more than 2,500 virtual servers 24/7 that have been generated from either migrating existing virtual servers, migrating legacy physical servers into virtual servers or through new provisioning. As an additional benefit, a large number of servers have been identified and confirmed for decommissioning.

The new capability helped Telstra make significant cost savings. This includes a reduction in server-related capital investment by 70 percent and a reduction in operational cost for the virtual platform of 30-40 percent compared to the operational cost of the equivalent physical servers. Server provisioning time was reduced from months to hours or days. The project achieved a 25-to-1 consolidation ratio for physical servers.