AUSTRAC spends $2.5m on Exadata upgrade

The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre has shelled out almost $2.5 million on two Oracle Exadata database machines.

The financial regulator released a contract notice signed 12 April 2011 that revealed the hardware purchase.

An AUSTRAC spokesman said that a test and production Exadata unit had been purchased.

The spokesman said the hardware units were bought as "part of an ongoing routine infrastructure upgrade and maintenance" project, not to power a new initiative at the agency.

The Exadata boxes would be used "to upgrade our capacity to process forecast transaction report volumes," the spokesman said.

The contract was the largest of several Oracle hardware purchases lodged with Oracle in recent months.

The agency also bought Oracle software, according to contract notices on AusTender.

CIO Trevor Clunne told a banking summit last month that the agency had "essentially been an Oracle, Sun, Java shop for many, many years".