Fujitsu Plans A$10m Australian Support Center 07/15/97
CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA, 1997 JUL 15 (NB) -- By Stuart Kennedy, Computer
Daily News.
Australia's Federal Industry Minister John Moore and Kate Carnell,
Chief Minister in the Australian Capital Territory (Canberra)
government, yesterday won a few hearts and votes in job-starved
Canberra with the joint announcement that Fujitsu would spend A$10
million to establish an Asia Pacific online desktop support and call
center in the Australian capital.
Federal and ACT government enticements appear to have beaten off
RHQ-hungry State Premiers as well as Asian RHQ king Singapore.
"Within Australia, we had extremely attractive and competitive
proposals from several governments to encourage us to locate the
Fujitsu Desktop Services (FDS) center in their State or territory,"
said Fujitsu Australia managing director, Neville Roach, who would
have done his company's government IT outsourcing prospects no harm
by placing the FDS in Canberra.
Officially, Fujitsu says it chose Canberra because the Down Under
capital is well studded with bodies possessing both IT training and
Asian language skills. For her part, ACT Chief Minister Kate Carnell
enticed Fujitsu with a package that includes deferral of payroll
tax, rent assistance, and a training package at the Canberra
Institute of Technology.
"This is really a beachhead for the ACT and we needed a beachhead,"
Carnell told the Australian Associated press wire service. "We
really have needed to establish Canberra, both nationally and
internationally, as a center or a capital for IT in Australia and in
the Asia-Pacific region," she said.
The center will be built up over the next five years and, according
to Fujitsu, create around 900 jobs. It will chase outsource support
business from hardware and software vendors and Net ISPs and offer
IT help desk services to general business and government
organizations.
-- Regards brdBernard Robertson-Dunn Canberra Australia brd@dynamite.com.au