Webjet's back office gets wings
Online travel booking service Webjet today said it had extended its hosting relationship with telco Macquarie Telecom and would spend just under AU$300,000 revamping its server infrastructure over the next six months.
"We have entered into an agreement with Macquarie Telecom for a three-year period, extending further our commercial relationship," Webjet managing director David Clarke said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange this morning.
"Over the next six months leading up to the end of this calendar year, we will be completing the installation of an entirely new server facility at Macquarie Telecom," he continued.
To beef up its processing power, Webjet will buy four new Hewlett-Packard dual-core, quad CPU Proliant servers with an associated storage area network (SAN).
To make maximum use of the hardware Webjet will use VMWare's virtualisation software. The entire setup "will see an approximate doubling of our site processing capacity," said Clarke.
"The total of capital expenditure in the project will be less than AU$300,000," Webjet's statement said, noting it would take total ownership of all its server assets in the process.
When the new infrastructure is bedded down, the 16 original servers Webjet had been using will be redeployed for internal company requirements.
The Webjet statement claimed the virtualised environment would also provide for "greater flexibility, redundancy and dynamic server allocation" as Webjet's business requirements change over the next three years.
The new processing power will be needed as Webjet adds a raft of new functionality to its online presence.
"This state of the art project will allow, in addition, for the introduction of major new site software, including our online packaging project and a significant new project to add to Webjet's customer experience, to be announced shortly," the statement said.
Webjet said it had migrated its entire operating environment to Microsoft's .NET 2.0 development platform, with help from the software giant and Microsoft consultant Readify.
The move was "a prelude to a range of customer initiatives to be released progressively between now and Christmas".
Webjet said Macquarie had continued to win Webjet's business almost since the company's inception due to the telco's "outstanding" customer service, leading edge server management and "state of the art" facilities.