Telstra Unveils Fractal, New Data Brand Umbrella and Seven Customer Solutions; Fiber-Based Frame Relay Service Activation Cuts Time From 3 Weeks to Several Hours

Business Wire, July 9, 1997

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 9, 1997--Telstra has refocussed its entire data strategy away from product based services to application based customer solutions, a move that recognizes every data customer has different requirements.

Under the new name Fractal(TM) (pronounced Fractl), Telstra offers customers seven data solutions which relate to enterprise requirements rather than product-based services.

Group Managing Director, Telstra Retail Products and Marketing, Mr. Lindsay Yelland, said the move acknowledged both the rapid growth in demand for data transfer; and the increasing demand by customers for Telstra to become an 'application supporter' rather than risk becoming a 'technology confuser.'

"With this new era in Australian telecommunications now upon us, Telstra is leading the Australian market and gearing up for global competition with innovations in customer data solutions such as Fractal," Mr. Yelland said.

"One of the key aspects of our new approach is providing solutions for customers. Telstra has created the Network Enterprise Centre which offers customers fast activation -- our goal is self-activation -- quick and responsive fault management and a single point of contact for billing and technical enquiries," he said.

"As an example of our new approach, we are about to begin testing an activation service for fibre-based Frame Relay which cuts the time taken from more than three weeks to several hours. Our aim is to eventually have this level of service available to all customers.

"The key to this data strategy is matching products and services to the specific needs of individual customers by providing end to end solutions, whether that be city to city or desktop to desktop."

Telstra offers a wide range of data products in a market where demand for some services is growing by up to 20 percent a month. We have put in place seven solutions tailored for specific business needs. They are:

-- Mainframe Solutions: Network solutions for companies with large, complex and highly customized requirements which may incorporate many Telstra data products.

-- PC Solutions: Designed to meet the needs of companies with data requirements that may change quickly, and often dramatically.

-- Remote and Mobility Solutions: Services for customers operating in rural and remote areas who rely on switched services for data.

-- Electronic Transaction Networks: Customers who require the ability to meet demand for huge volumes of simultaneous transactions.

-- Media Solutions: Combining the strengths of Telstra's broadcasting products, this solution offers companies the ability to connect audio and video signals in real time. Telstra tailors media solutions to meet specific customer requirements.

-- Security Services Solutions: Provides a range of services which ensure around-the-clock monitoring for customer premises.

-- Managed Services Solutions: Making complex digital networking simple, where Telstra's specialized data experts manage the installation and operation of a customer's data operations. This solution allows customers to focus on core business activities.

"A good example of our new approach is today's launch of Accelerate(TM) ATM. We are not just launching a product -- our appointment of specialist networks integration operators to provide customers with design, installation and management services; and the creation of an internal highly skilled data team called Enterprise Network Solutions -- shows our strong commitment to providing customers with solutions to their data requirements.

"Fractal and our new data strategy means customers will be able to rely on Telstra for their data solutions, not simply a host of data products. We are overhauling staff training and implementing a number of strategies to assist us in providing data solutions. In short, we can advise, design, install, maintain and, if required, manage an overall data package for any customer, regardless of the size and logistics of their business," Mr. Yelland said.

Mr. Yelland said Telstra chose the word Fractal for the data solution strategy because it represents a new approach to making complex things simple. He said it was adapted from the word Fractal, coined by French Mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot in 1975.

"Fractal geometry gives researchers both a tool and an understanding of how, at every scale and level, there are orderly echoes of the large, repeated again and again on smaller scales in the overall design. A tree is a good example, with the trunk and branches repeating smaller versions of the tree as it grows. We have applied this concept to our data offerings."

Telstra has chosen a range of natural images to represent Fractal. They include a leaf, fish and natural occurrences such as lightning.

Telstra Corporation Limited is Australia's leading full service domestic and international telecommunications provider and a major carrier in the Asia Pacific region. With annual revenues of more than US$14 billion (Aud$17.2 billion), Telstra offers consumers and businesses a broad portfolio of services including long distance, wireless, local, messaging, Internet services, information services, outsourcing, and advanced global telecommunications services.