Unisys opens APAC headquarters in Sydney

US-based service provider Unisys has opened an Asia-Pacific headquarters in Sydney's western suburb of Rhodes.

Mike Ettling, managing director at Unisys Australia and New Zealand, said the service provider was equipping itself for growth. The Asia-Pacific region, including Australia, was a very competitive market, he said.

"Rhodes is about efficiency. Efficiency in how we run our building, efficiency in how we run our business [and] efficiency in how we serve our clients," Ettling said in a statement.

Unisys Australia closed four Sydney offices in 2004, moving the assets and focus to the new purpose-built campus in Rhodes, near Homebush Bay in western Sydney.

The new facility was officially opened yesterday, 18 May, by New South Wales premier Bob Carr.

"The company brought a third of Unisys Australia together under one roof, near the geographical centre of Sydney and along Sydney's IT corridor," the company said. "The Rhodes site is also the company's Asia-Pacific headquarters."

Managed services would be a focus at the new facility. Unisys claims its Rhodes managed services centre is one of the most sophisticated in the Asia-Pacific.

"It forms part of the Unisys Global Managed Services group that also has centres in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania [US] and Amsterdam," the company said.

Rhodes' centre has a call reception, service desk, network command and customer services. Previously, Unisys Australia's managed services were based at North Ryde, in northern Sydney, the company said.

Unisys' new 24-hour data centre at Rhodes is being promoted as able to permit "any" planned activity without disruption.

"The centre can run for 72 hours in the event of a power failure. Smoke detection systems are so sensitive they can detect the presence of cigarrette smoke on the clothes of visitors entering the facility," Unisys boasted.

Mortgage processing, cheque processing and software R&D would also be housed at the new Rhodes facility, the company said.

Unisys Australia has 2000 Australia-based staff. The company is a subsidiary of Unisys Asia-Pacific, itself a division of the US-based service provider.