Australian broker reduces data center footprint

Oracle's Exadata technology, which combines database and storage in one box, has helped Australia's largest mortgage broker, Australian Finance Group, reduce its data center footprint and improve services, according to a report in The Australian. The rollout, which cost A$1 million (for hardware and software licences), now means AFG brokers can receive commissions three times faster, while AFG's previous three racks have been reduced to two.

AFG said it believes Exadata's capabilities will last it for the next five years, and that it hopes to move all applications over to Exadata which can provide a cloud-computing environment for its Oracle Siebel customer relationship management system.

Australian infrastructure provider offers short term lease for high performance computing

IT systems integrator Frontline Systems said it will now offer high-performance computing infrastructure at no cost with short-term leasing options starting at one month in an effort to meet rising demand for imaging and rendering services in the Australian market.

With the launch of Steam Engine, the cloud-based infrastructure provider is hoping to entice the mining, biomedical and financial industry's needs for simulation, rendering and intensive applications.Steam Engine has 1,000 servers online and Frontline Systems says it plans to add another 3,000 to its Harbour MSP tier-three commercial data center in Sydney by 2011, which will allow it to keep up with rising demand seen in the infrastructure-as-a-service space.