The contract for the applications services and transformation (AST) outsourcing program launched by Qantas is the largest single contract awarded to an Indian outsourcing company in Australia to date.

Under this contract, TCS will assume full responsibility for more than 75 per cent of the total scope of Qantas' (AST) programme for the next seven years. TCS will provide support and maintenance to all of Qantas' key IT applications for airport operations and commercial systems.

TCS will be the lead partner for the transition phase of the entire Qantas AST programme, overseeing activities of many of Qantas' internal and external groups involved in IT systems support and maintenance.

Qantas will also benefit from access to TCS' new Innovation Lab for travel and hospitality, located in Chennai, India, which incubates, develops new solutions for emerging technologies such as RFID, wireless and digital asset management.

Another significant seven-year Qantas contract went to, Satyam Computers Services Ltd, for application development and maintenance services for over 150 applications across a wide portfolio of technologies.

This follows the recent Oracle e-Business suite contract announced in August between Qantas and Satyam for the implemented elements of Qantas' eBusiness systems. The transition of the IT support and service delivery of these applications to Satyam is already underway.

Satyam Australia is amongst the earliest organizations in Australia to be certified under ISO 27001 for Information Security and Management Standards, a certification which Satyam achieved enterprise-wide, globally.