Business systems and application service provider Solution 6 has won a multi-million
dollar infrastructure development contract with Australian Internet casino
Lasseters Online.
Under the deal, Solution 6’s CVSI IT
services business will design a new IT environment for the Northern
Territory-based Lasseters, that will deliver gaming services to players in
more than 150 countries.
The contract has already commenced with an initial AUS$2.2 million (US$1.45
million) investment in two Sun 5500 Unix servers and the creation of a
network that can incorporate more servers as traffic increases.
Solution 6 will also introduce EMC Symmetrix Arrays that replicate
Lasseters’ databases offshore so that it can develop a greater presence
overseas, and remote disaster recovery.
Lasseters, Australia’s first government-regulated online casino, has
experienced exponential growth since its launch in April, and has taken
AUS$15 million (US$9.9 million) in bets so far this year. It is this
exponential growth that has driven the technology overhaul.
With this new infrastructure, Lasseters plans to offer services other than
gaming, such as online shopping.
“You can create an account with us, so there’s no reason why we couldn’t
use that system for online shopping,” said Lasseters executive manager of
special projects, David Ohlson. “We don’t just want to be a casino.”
Lasseters will add a new Web server to provide greater speed and graphic
quality.
“The site is attracting a rapid increase in player registrations and
financial transactions and the new system will give us the capacity to
support this expansion without any down time,” said Ohlson.
To complement its new back end, Lasseters will invest AUS$500,000
(US$330,000) in site redevelopment, that will be launched in January and
will include updated games.
Lasseters will also increase the marketing budget for its site, and plans
to spend AUS$1 million (US$660,000) a month on advertising by May 2000,
said Ohslon.
