At the start of any ICT planning we say, “Let’s talk to Macquarie!” We consider
Macquarie the only provider capable of delivering a carrier and technology diverse network
that allows business continuity and redundancy aligned with real relationship based
customer focus”.
Carl Cappadona, IT Manager, Centro Properties Group Overview
For Centro Properties Group (Centro), business is more than being a provider of retail
space. Their strategic vision has seen them become the highest performing listed property
trust over the past ten years with technology playing an integral part in supporting
business growth.
As Centro’s business grows and evolves – so does its business enabling Information
Technology (IT) and Management Information Systems (MIS). Key to this success has been a
partnership with Macquarie Telecom spanning more than a decade.
Already a Macquarie Telecom customer for voice and data services, Centro challenged
Macquarie to deliver ongoing solutions to meet ever-changing information technology and
communications (ICT) needs.
The result has been an innovative convergent data solution with quality of service
providing Centro with increased network capabilities whilst delivering significant savings
along with scalability to meet current and future business demands.
The Opportunity
In Australia, Centro employs 800+ people throughout 120-plus shopping centres across
the country and at their Corporate Head Office in Glen Waverley, Victoria.
At the heart of their successful business plan is a well established ICT strategy -
with Macquarie Telecom proving itself as a key provider in enabling this strategy.
Risk managed growth over the past ten years has seen the need for a high performing
high-speed network capable of reaching retail properties in diverse locations around
Australia. Many regional locations including places like the Whitsunday region in
Queensland or the Pilbara region of far north West Australia require access to network
services.
The company required a cost-effective data network solution that would allow new
business applications to be rolled out to all sites and just as importantly could support
various applications with the right amount of bandwidth on an ‘as and when’ required
basis.
The Solution
As a multi-carrier provider, Macquarie Telecom was able to offer a truly tailored IP
data network solution. Macquarie could greatly increase Centro’s choices with a customised
approach for each site to ensure the right balance between technology, speed and cost.
With business continuity an explicit need for Centro’s head office in Glen Waverley,
Cappadona says that Macquarie Telecom’s multiple carrier access diversely routed was a
definite plus.
Through its MPLS network dedicated to business users, Macquarie Telecom has been able
to shape data across the IP network to regulate how much of a link each application uses
at one time.
“Our existing network bandwidth was far too limiting to our business,” Cappadona said.
“We can now ensure that various applications receive enough bandwidth to work well, for
example, the over throttling of print traffic is a thing of the past.”
The Macquarie Telecom solution provides a complete managed service from a single
provider for voice and data together with one number to ring for any service issues.
Centro is able to get all the services it requires such as Volume Control, Dialup,
billing, managed router and fault management.
“When presenting their offerings, it’s essential that providers understand the due
diligence organisations such as ourselves must go through,” Cappadona said.
“Macquarie Telecom is the complete package with a true focus on ‘customer first’
bringing proactive solutions that meet specific business needs. We consider them a
Corporate provider of choice capable of delivering a carrier and technology diverse
network that allows Business Continuity Planning.”
As Centro’s business grows and evolves, so does the need for business enabling IT and
MIS systems and applications. Centro has a need for a widespread and high-speed network
that provides easy access to corporate IT infrastructure and MIS systems.
The rollout of more data and network intensive applications such as Video Conferencing
mean that many sites require increased bandwidth and for that bandwidth to be symmetrical.
Macquarie Telecom’s Metro Access Network (MAN) provides high-speed access with the Wide
Area Network (WAN) handling a range of access link technologies.
“Macquarie has responded to our growth and business changes with a relationship focused
on consultation. This includes discussion, proposals and recommendations to continually
deliver on Centro’s requirements and our customer service needs,” Cappadona said.
Results
Centro now has a high performing high-speed IP network that reaches diverse locations
throughout Australia with Business continuity services and allows new business
applications to be rolled out to all sites, as required.
Video conferencing means that productivity and timeliness is increased, teamwork
enhanced and that travel is not always required for interaction between staff offices
around the globe.
“Effective communication with the Australian regional offices and our major offices in
the U.S is far easier and more productive than before,” Cappadona said.
“Printing speed for remote offices has increased several times over and this has been
well received by users who appreciate the increased response times”
With a secure and fault tolerant network design, technology has enabled business
continuity bringing operational efficiencies and business innovation.
Centro now has a comprehensive scalable and secure data network using Private IP,
various BDSL’s or Fibre services, Dial In services and Internet services.
Macquarie Telecom offers a comprehensive suite of tools and resources to provide online
visibility of itemised costs and help dissect billing and understand Telco costs,
delivering on price, performance and reliability.
Centro now benefits from a diverse and redundant network that brings reliability and
scalability to meet current and future business needs and growth.
Key to this has been Macquarie Telecom’s personal service model with a highly
responsive technical and service team.
“Macquarie Telecom is definitely hard to beat when it comes to providing a reliable
network, customer service and managing relationships,” Cappadona said.
“At the start of any ICT planning we say – let’s talk to Macquarie!”
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