Kordia commits to community engagement

Kordia is pleased to announce that it has made a commitment to the "Guidelines for Undertaking Community Engagement for Wireless Telecommunications Facilities", as recently developed by the Telecommunications Carriers Forum.

“These guidelines represent a bold step forward for the telecommunications industry, as they set a standard for the way telecommunications companies consult with local communities when installing wireless telecommunications facilities”, explains Susie Stone, Kordia’s General Manager of Strategic Development.

The guidelines will give New Zealand communities access to plans for new sites at the beginning of the approvals process; rather than at the beginning of the site installation. This empowers the community with information at an earlier stage.

“The inception, consultation and development of these guidelines reflect the desire of participating telecommunications companies to undertake future engagement with local communities in a meaningful way,” says Stone.

“Kordia would like to acknowledge the valuable input of the other members of the working group – namely Vodafone, Telecom and Woosh – in developing these guidelines”.

MORE INFORMATION

The guidelines can be viewed on the TCF website at www.tcf.org.nz

Check out Iggy’s new band

The Orcon ad made by rock legend Iggy Pop and nine Kiwi musicians is online on the company’s website and hitting TV screens today.

Late last month more than 200 New Zealand musos auditioned for the chance to lay down Iggy’s renowned solo track ‘The Passenger’ under the direction of the Godfather of Punk.

The final nine chosen assembled online to hook up with Iggy in Miami live via Orcon broadband and record the track.

Since then the audio and visual feeds has been mixed in Miami by the renowned rocker and his studio team.  It is now an advertising commercial for Orcon as well as a full music video as part of a promotion from the telecommunications company for its next generation broadband.

Orcon CEO Scott Bartlett says, “We set ourselves a goal of really showcasing the amazing things possible online – and the results have outstripped what we thought we would achieve. Iggy, the band, and the team have created a brilliant track that demonstrates the talent lurking behind computer screens throughout New Zealand, and what happens when you link those screens together.”

Visit http://www.orcon.net.nz/lifestyle/page/together_incredible_the_finished_product to see the ad. The ad hits TV screens on November 17th.

Media release date: 17 November 2009

MORE INFORMATION

For more information, please contact:

Angely Grecia,

Pead PR

T: +64 9 918 5576

M: +64 21 303 403

E: angely@peadpr.co.nz

Iggy has his Kiwi band

The auditions have closed and Iggy Pop has his brand new band.

More than 200 New Zealand musicians auditioned for the chance to lay down Iggy’s renowned solo track ‘The Passenger’ online and under the direction of the Godfather of Punk.

It’s all part of a promotion from telecommunications company Orcon for its next generation broadband.

Now the band has been chosen and it assembles on Friday (Oct. 30) to hook up with Iggy in Miami live via Orcon Broadband. They’re spending the day under the maestro’s expert guidance laying down a brand new version of 'The Passenger'.

Iggy’s new band comprises four musicians from Wellington, two from Auckland and one each from Warkworth in Rodney District and Paraparaumu.

The group comprises:

• Tia Beaufort (Pukerua Bay, Wellington) & Stephanie Engelbrecht (Evans Bay, Wellington), drums
• Charley Davenport (Paraparaumu), cello
• Ben Jurisich (Warkworth) & Sam Logan (Karori, Wellington), guitars
• Takumi Motokawa (Brooklyn, Wellington), xylophone
• Daniel Tate (Onehunga, Auckland), bass
• Miho Wada (Remuera, Auckland), flute

The recording session is being streamed live at www.facebook.com/Orcon from around 1pm (NZST) and the finished track is being turned in to a television ad for the company. It will be available for viewing from November 17.

Orcon CEO Scott Bartlett says he’s amazed at the quality and number of musicians who jumped at the chance to audition for the band.

“Iggy obviously has huge pulling power in the global music community. We were expecting around 50 New Zealand musos to audition but in the end we had more than 200.

“It was a pretty tough job screening them down to eight but with Iggy’s help I think we have unearthed some awesome talent.

Mr Bartlett says it looks like it is going to be a pretty incredible re-make of 'The Passenger' and not just a re-hash of the original.

“We are really excited about what is going to come out of this.”

On Friday, the New Zealand band members connect to Iggy’s Miami studio via the Internet with everyone in the band laying down their tracks and Iggy singing the vocals.

The studio is going to capture all the audio and visual feeds and create a unique musical and video rendition of ‘The Passenger’. The music and footage is then going to be used to create commercials and a full music video.

“The internet is enabling Kiwis to do incredible things each day and this helps us prove that,” Mr Bartlett says.

The Iggy Pop ‘Together Incredible’ auditions were viewed online more than 65,000 times on Facebook and the site attracted close to 4,000 fans.

Media release date: 29 October 2009

MORE INFORMATION

For more information, please contact:

Quentin Reade

Pead PR

T: +64 9 918 5552

M: +64 21 847 908

E: quentin@peadpr.co.nz

About Kordia

Kordia is an experienced and stable trans-Tasman business that powers some of the most significant communications technologies in this part of the world.

Kordia has a team of over 700 talented people who build, manage and maintain telecommunications, broadcast and a range of other specialised networks in New Zealand, Australia, South-East Asia and the Pacific.  Kordia’s shareholder is the New Zealand government – the company has been around for about 60 years.  

Kordia’s heritage is in broadcast.  When New Zealanders watch TV or listen to the radio, it is likely that the programme is carried over Kordia’s broadcast analogue or digital network. 

But Kordia’s business is changing.  Now many long distance phone calls are carried up and down the country on Kordia’s next generation network.  It also owns Orcon, and delivers world-class broadband, down-under, through them.

Kordia’s satellite and radio technologies monitor the safety of boats and shipping crews across a territory than covers 50 million square kilometres of the world’s oceans.

Kordia is also looking to massively improve the cost and performance of New Zealand’s connection to the world by building a new data cable to Australia – OptiKor™.

Kordia has undergone a significant transformation in the past few years.  It has spent $170m to shift from ‘broadcast-only’ to being a lead player in the technology, media and telecommunications space. 

The acquisition of AAPCS in Australia (2005), Orcon (2007) and iServe (2009) in New Zealand has established the framework for change, with revenue from the telecommunications sector increasing eight-fold over that period.  Total revenue for the Kordia Group has doubled since 2005 - from $130m to just under $260m. 

Revenue: NZ$254 million, FY09, ended June 2009.

Key customers: TVNZ, MediaWorks, SKY Television, Vodafone Hutchison Australia, Ericsson, NokiaSiemens Networks.

Employees: 856 (includes Kordia in New Zealand and Australia, Orcon and its subsidiaries, part time staff and contract workers).

Take a ride with Iggy and Orcon

Iggy Pop is making a new band – and plans to fill it with Kiwis he meets online.

The Godfather of Punk is inviting Kiwi musicians to help him re-record ‘The Passenger’, one of his best known solo tracks.

It’s all part of a promotion from telecommunications company Orcon for its next generation broadband.

Orcon CEO Scott Bartlett says Iggy is going to be in the driving seat, reproducing his hit with Kiwi talent.

"If you’d like to sing lead vocals, backing vocals, harmonise, play guitar, bass, drums...or anything with Iggy Pop, register with us at www.facebook.com/orcon.

“We’re looking for eight talented Kiwis who have the right credentials to help Iggy lay down a new version of probably his most classic song. But instead of going in to the studio with him, it’s all going to happen over the internet with the magic of Orcon broadband.

“Iggy’s in charge and he will select the musicians to join his band from video auditions they upload to our website. It’s powered by Orcon and it’s going to be huge.”

On 30 October, the selected New Zealand band members will connect to Iggy’s Miami studio via the internet, with everyone in the band laying down their tracks and Iggy singing the vocals.

The studio is going to capture all the audio and vocal feeds and create a unique musical and video rendition of ‘The Passenger’. The music and footage is then going to be used to create commercials and a full music video.

“As far as we know, nothing like this has been done before, certainly not in New Zealand and not globally as we understand,” Bartlett says. “So it’s ground–breaking stuff and also a great way for us to showcase the power of Orcon broadband and what can be done with it by talented New Zealanders.

“The internet is enabling Kiwis to do incredible things each day and this helps us prove that.”

The call for musicians kicks off today (7 Oct.) and entries close at noon on 22 October. The final ad will to be available for viewing on the Orcon website and on TV on the week commencing 16 November.

New Zealanders can follow the search from now and watch the ad being made via live stream on 30 October at www.facebook.com/orcon.

Media release: 7 October 2009

MORE INFORMATION

For more information, please contact:

Quentin Reade

Pead PR

T: +64 9 918 5552

M: +64 21 847 908

E: quentin@peadpr.co.nz

Kordia Board supports trans-Tasman cable

Kordia Chairman David Clarke says that the Board is very pleased with the progress being made on Kordia’s development of a project to deploy a trans-Tasman submarine cable, and confirms that work will continue to ramp up over the next six months or so.

The new cable will reduce New Zealand’s connectivity risk on international routes to Australia and beyond. The introduction of the OptiKor™ cable brings competitive pressures, lowering prices for New Zealand businesses and broadband users. The new cable will mean more direct and improved services, and will de-risk business access to Australia.

“Kordia’s intention is to deliver the economic benefits of fast, competitively-priced international access to all New Zealanders,” says Clarke.

The structural limitations of New Zealand’s international cable market provide a unique market opportunity for OptiKor™. While the in-situ cables have capacity and upgrade potential to meet likely short-term demand, a lack of competitive choice and options for physical diversity have contributed to the growing support for an alternative service provider.

“Our proposed cable will take the most direct, quickest and least expensive route for New Zealand customers. OptiKor™ is a better proposition for New Zealand than any other cable project – we are the most direct route to Australia and through our partners, we can deliver New Zealand traffic all the way to the United States,” Clarke says.

“And of course, Southern Cross has dropped its prices in excess of 75 per cent in the 18 months since we announced our plans.   The Kordia project has already provided a catalyst to encourage competition and lower prices for New Zealand customers.”

Clarke says the key objective is to award a contract in early 2010 for the installation of the cable. “In the meantime, we are working closely alongside foundation customers and other significant partners to deliver a truly customer-centric and economically sustainable project.”

Media release date: 30 September 2009

MORE INFORMATION

For more information, please contact:

Emma Morrison

KORDIA®

Corporate, Communications and Brand Manager

DDI. +64 9 916 6476

M. +64 21 916 647

P. +64 9 916 6446

E. emma.morrison@kordia.co.nz

W. www.kordiasolutions.com

A transformed Kordia delivers strong second half

The Kordia Group has posted a strong second half net profit after tax of $4.7m before restructuring costs, which reversed the first half loss and produced a full year net profit after tax of $1.1m before restructuring costs. Restructuring costs of $2.2m after tax, driven substantially by redundancies in the New Zealand engineering consultancy business, resulted in a full year overall net profit after tax loss of $1.1m on revenues of $254m.

Kordia CEO Geoff Hunt says that this result is particularly pleasing given the difficult economic times, and the recent high levels of capital investment Kordia has made in the telecommunications and related sectors.

“We have been through a very challenging last 18 months which has seen us transform Kordia Group from a sunset, analogue, broadcast-centric business to a technology, media and telecommunications business with new services and products implemented to produce sustainable profit flows into the future.

“Today, our revenue mix has changed dramatically. The service offerings from the New Zealand businesses are strongly weighted towards the telecommunications market, with our rich broadcast heritage remaining one of our key differentiators.

“In Australia, Kordia Solutions is operating an excellent and well-respected business that is achieving over 80 per cent of its revenue from activity in the telecommunications market.

“Kordia Networks in New Zealand is re-energised and focused on developing business in the corporate and ICT sector through a number of new offerings like OnKor™ (carrier Ethernet) and KorKor™ (integrated, two-way, digital radio). Orcon continues to grow at more than 30 per cent per annum, and is likely to turn over in excess of $52m this year,” says Hunt.

Hunt says that Kordia is now focused on improved customer service, and leveraging its recent investments for a more profitable future.  He cites the development of a new fibre-optic cable from Auckland to Sydney as another potential string to Kordia’s bow.

“What is compelling about the OptiKor™ trans-Tasman cable initiative is the fact that Kordia’s project development work has provided a catalyst for real competition in the wholesale international bandwidth market,” he says.

Over the last three years, Kordia has invested a total of $167.2m in the transformation of the business from pure broadcast, to a broader telecommunications, media and technology offering, while continuing to pay the shareholder dividends totalling $26.0m.

Over the next three years, Kordia will focus on driving returns from its network business investments and reducing debt to provide a gearing of approximately 40 per cent, down from the current 52.1 per cent. ROI is forecast to rise steadily over the next three years.

Click here to view the TABLE OF RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2009.

Media release date: 30 September 2009

MORE INFORMATION

For more information, please contact:

Emma Morrison

KORDIA®

Corporate, Communications and Brand Manager

DDI. +64 9 916 6476

M. +64 21 916 647

P. +64 9 916 6446

E. emma.morrison@kordia.co.nz

W. www.kordiasolutions.com

Kordia pushes virtualisation envelope

A four year virtualisation journey is taking network infrastructure company Kordia places many would fear to go.

The company successfully virtualised its Citrix and SQL environments two years ago and is now rolling out trans-Tasman applications, including a new CRM system.

Stephen Beckwith, Kordia’s IS infrastructure manager, says Citrix and SQL are two systems most people advise against virtualising, but he says Kordia has succeeded in doing so.

“You just have to be careful how you do it,” he says.

Beckwith says operating system kernel limitations mean it would normally not be possible to have more than eight or nine users on a virtualised Citrix server. Using virtualisation, he says, you can “stand up”, say, four servers on a box, giving you 32 users or more.

Around the same time, Kordia rolled out SAP to 800 users trans-Tasman and is now deploying Microsoft Dynamics CRM, to go live before the end of the year.

Running SQL over VMware allows Kordia to keep a server running while performing hardware maintenance, he says. Maintenance was one of the major drivers of deploying the technology along with improved speed of deployment.

One key to successful virtualisation is matching it with the right storage environment, Beckwith says. Kordia opted for EMC because it allowed quality of service capabilities, including the ability to allocate I/O resources to particular applications at particular times.

So, for instance, in the evening I/O can be allocated to backup rather than to Exchange, he says.

VMware has also found a home on the desktop, allowing Kordia to run DOS and Win95 microwave dish applications that are pushing 20 years old, Beckwith says. 

Beckwith says in the case of the CRM project, virtualisation is cutting costs, through the use of less hardware and boosting deployment time. Servers can be set up in hours rather than having to be bought, shipped and commissioned.

Kordia Takes Out TUANZ Education Award 2009

Kordia is delighted with its win at the annual, black-tie, TUANZ Innovation Awards 2009, which were hosted at SkyCity in Auckland last night.

Kordia, in a joint submission with the Liggins Institute and the National Research Centre for Growth and Development (NRCGD), outshone two other finalists in a presentation to judges only hours before.

Kordia’s education-based innovation is a solution that “brings schools and scientists together”.

For the first time in New Zealand, conversations between senior biology students and leading international scientists take place through a unique collaboration between the Institute, the NRCGD, the University’s Information Technology Service (ITS) and Kordia.

Jacquie Bay, the Director of the Liggins Education Network for Science (LENScience), says that this programme has succeeded in connecting world class experts with young New Zealanders.

“This is about delivering accessible, user-friendly technology that meets a 21st century educational need.

We know that Kordia will one day help New Zealand achieve the level of broadband connectivity we need to really prosper, but in the meantime, this unique collaboration has solved a problem and is creating opportunities for young New Zealanders,” says Bay.

Kordia CEO, Geoff Hunt, is pleased with the win, and says that this initiative is testament to Kordia’s commitment to bringing people and technology together.

In 2008, Kordia’s satellite technology was used to broadcast three seminars to around 300 Year 13 biology students. In 2009, this was extended to over 100 schools and 1000 participating students, with planning for future learning events underway for students at other levels. 

Media release dated: 4 September 2009

MORE INFORMATION

For more information, please contact:

Emma Morrison

KORDIA®

Communications and Brand Manager

P. +64 9 916 6476

M. +64 21 916 647