NSC flies with Virgin Blue

Craig Neil, managing director at NSC, told CRN the win with Virgin Blue rated highly in the service provider’s Top 10 list of major wins.

“I can’t disclose the contract’s financial worth, but it’s for the supply and service of 4000 users at Virgin Blue,” he said.

Under the five year managed services agreement NSC will supply the airline's unified communication products.

This includes IP telephony and contact centre technology from Avaya and video-conferencing from Polycom.

“The airline went to tender for the project and there was a fair amount of engagement from vendors and service providers,” said Neil.

“Virgin then chose a closed group, including us, Nortel and its incumbent Cisco. The airline went with NSC because we had better and more reliable products.”

David Harvey, general manager of IT at Virgin Blue Airlines, said the carrier's decision to relocate a number of sites throughout Brisbane into one premise, promopted the move towards a managed services model.

“We’re looking at our desktop and multifunction devices to enable employees to work anywhere, anytime, from any device,” he said.

Neil hopes for similar wins in the future and the demise of Commander has helped the service provider with new customer enquiries.

“Our business went up against Commander’s Volante. Since the company went into administration we have had a lot of enquiries from their customers,” he said.

“With the service provider in its current predicament, its customer’s are looking at different options.”