SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA — NTT Australia, a wholly owned subsidiary of NTT Communications Corporation (NTT Com), today announced it has deployed a global managed network for the Australian-based rare earths mining company Lynas Corporation Limited (ASX: LYC).
Recognising the need to streamline its communications in preparation for imminent growth, Lynas decided that a locked-down, dedicated network was needed to support a large increase in global traffic envisioned for its network. The company chose NTT Australia as a global ICT provider capable of delivering managed-network, managed-security and secure Internet gateway services in key markets including Australia, China and Malaysia.
Lynas, an ASX 100 company, is set to offer the first new production of rare earths outside of China in the third quarter of this year. Rare earths, a unique group of 15 chemical elements that underpin many modern technologies, are in short supply worldwide. Wind turbines, hybrid vehicles, rechargeable batteries, mobile handsets including iPhones, plasma and flatscreen liquid crystal display (LCD) televisions, disk drives and catalytic converters are all dependent on the unique properties provided by rare earths. Lynas, which owns the richest known deposit of rare earths in the world in Mount Weld, Western Australia, is building a concentration plant near the mine site and a state-of-the-art rare earths processing plant, the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP), in Malaysia.
Gillian Kidson, Infrastructure Manager at Lynas Corporation, explains that a network with a global footprint was essential, but was also a sticking point at the start of their search for an ICT partner: “The provider that we approached originally was unable to deliver all the services we required, including in Malaysia. This was a critical location for us and we knew we needed a provider that could cover our critical geographies and beyond,” she explained. “We didn’t want to break up the components and needed a single provider.”
Lynas initially engaged NTT Com to resolve their data centre problems in Malaysia. Impressed by the Malaysia data centre and point-to-point network proposition, Lynas briefed NTT Com on the global solution it required.
“The ability to provide us with a complete solution for network and data centre services in Malaysia was essential. When we toured the facilities and realised the quality of service NTT Com could provide, it made sense to approach them for the global solution,” Kidson said.
Kidson was also impressed by NTT Com’s swift response to their global brief. “Within a couple of weeks of our first meeting we had most of the requirements and design signed off,” she explained.
Following the project kick-off meeting in mid October 2010, the first phase of service for most sites was completed just one month later. Perth sites were delivered in early December, followed by the Kuantan office in early January.
The responsiveness and support from NTT Com and the project team members ensured that the overall process ran smoothly, and that individual processes could be escalated whenever a quick resolution was required.
“Throughout the rollout we worked closely with our project manager and a talented engineering team who were able to deliver all services as per the project plan,” Kidson commented.
Michael Fortescue, Director of Sales and Marketing at NTT Australia, believes this project is testament to NTT Com’s position as a world-leading ICT provider: “The NTT Com team delivered a world-class solution in a demanding time-frame. By listening to their requirements and responding quickly to all issues, we built a rewarding partnership and delivered a flexible, highly secure and robust global ICT infrastructure to support this fast-growing Australian company.”
NTT Com provided a fully integrated and secure ICT solution consisting of:
- Managed network – Global MPLS network with QoS and end-to-end Cisco router management.
- Data centre services provided by NTT Com’s Malaysia and Sydney data centres.
- Scalable network – future-proofed by securing local Ethernet access lines.
- WAN performance acceleration – Managed Riverbed appliances as part of the total managed network, managed and monitored by NTT Com’s global NOCs.
- Managed Internet breakout – A secured managed Internet solution (with managed Cisco High Availability Firewalls) plugged directly into the cloud to provide all network users with easy Internet access.
- Managed IP-Sec gateway – A value-add, managed and monitored IP-Sec solution providing both remote and roaming users with easy access to the global network.
- Managed firewalls for satellite offices – NTT Com manages and monitors firewalls situated at Lynas satellite offices.
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About Lynas Corporation (ASX:LYC) www.lynascorp.com
Lynas Corporation Ltd is an ASX 100 listed company with the strategy to create a reliable, fully integrated source of Rare Earths from mine through to market, and to become the benchmark for the security of supply and environmental standards in the global Rare Earths industry.
The foundation of this strategy is Mount Weld in Western Australia, the richest known deposit of Rare Earths in the world, and a state-of-the-art Rare Earths processing plant, the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP), currently under construction near Kuantan in Pahang, Malaysia. Lynas is set to offer the first new production of Rare Earths outside of China in the third quarter of 2011 at a time when the world thirsts for these vital elements.
Lynas will concentrate the ore mined at Mount Weld in a Concentration Plant approximately 1.5km from the mine. The concentrate produced will be shipped in sea containers to the east coast of Malaysia to the LAMP, and processed through to separated Rare Earths Oxide (REO) products.
About NTT Australia
NTT Australia is a wholly-owned subsidiary company of NTT Communications which is the global data and IP services arm of the Fortune Global 500 telecom leader, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT). NTT Australia, which is responsible for business in the Oceania market, provides a world-class Tier-1 Internet backbone, secure closed networks, security, system integration, network and application management, managed hosting and global content-delivery services with partner companies globally. For additional information, please visit www.au.ntt.com.
About NTT Communications Corporation
NTT Communications provides a wide range of global networks, management solutions and ICT services to customers worldwide. The company is renowned for reliable, high-quality security, hosting, voice, data and IP services, as well as expertise in managed networks and leadership in IPv6 transit technology. NTT Communications’ extensive infrastructure includes Arcstar™ Global IP-VPN and Global e-VLAN, as well as a Tier-1 IP backbone services reaching more than 150 countries worldwide, and secure data centres in Asia, North America and Europe. NTT Communications is the wholly-owned subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, one of the world’s largest telecoms with listings on the Tokyo, and New York stock exchanges.
About NTT Communications Corporation
NTT Communications provides a broad range of global networks, management solutions and IT services to customers worldwide. The company is renowned for reliable, high-quality security, hosting, voice, data and IP services, as well as expertise in managed networks and leadership in IPv6 transit technology. NTT Communications’ extensive infrastructure includes Arcstar™ Global IP-VPN and Global e-VLAN, as well as a Tier-1 IP backbone reaching more than 150 countries in partnership with major Internet service providers, and secure data centres in Asia, North America and Europe. NTT Communications is the wholly-owned subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, one of the world’s largest telecoms with listings on the Tokyo, London and New York stock exchanges. Please visit www.ntt.com/index-e.html
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