Westpac halts Exchange migration

Westpac's mammoth project to move the bank from Lotus Notes to Outlook/Exchange has stalled, with the bank halting the migration following an internal review.

The bank said that "a number of factors", including the current economic climate, have caused it to make a review of the collaboration software that it had planned to use.

"The outcome of this review has led us to take the decision to defer the project until a later stage," the bank said, confirming a report from iTnews, which said that the migration had been delayed.

Despite the delay, Westpac said that it is still committed to rolling out Exchange across the entirety of the Westpac Group, and would continue to work with its partners to that end, although it did not confirm when the roll-out would occur.

When the project was announced last year, it was thought to be one of the largest migrations from Lotus Notes to Exchange, affecting around 39,000 staff. According to sources at the time of its announcement, the implementation would have been due for completion at the end of this year, with the assistance of IBM and Fujitsu.

BT Financial Group, which falls under the Westpac banner, and Westpac Retail branch staff are already using Microsoft Exchange.

Westpac only last month conducted a review of its workforce, cutting 119 jobs and transitioning roles offshore as it gave its contractors more responsibility. The bank's IT department has seen a number of changes over the past year, with Clive Whincup replacing Bob McKinnon as CIO, and Sarv Girn stepping down as CTO.