Telstra Limited today announces the successful execution of a total shutdown of operations at its London Hosting Centre in Docklands. The "black building" shutdown was conducted to test the resiliency of Business Continuity capabilities at its state-of-the-art Hosting Centre. The live simulation of a total power failure event was conducted in a controlled environment and forms part of an ongoing strategy of continuous improvement at Telstra Limited's Docklands hosting facilities.

The tests were designed to simulate an unforeseen computer disaster or power supply failure, such as the power outages that rocked the east coast of the United States in September 2003. Assessing Telstra Limited's ability to continue to provide voice and data services to customers without subjecting them to any downtime or disruption to their businesses in the event of such a failure, the generators used to supply power during the tests consumed enough fuel to drive an average car 34,645 miles or almost one and a half times around the world.

Says David Thorn, Chief Executive Officer at Telstra Limited:
"Despite being warned in advance of these tests, not one of our customers reported any disruption to their service levels during the process. Developing good Business Continuity planning is essential to any company; exercising our business continuity plan with tests like this black building implementation is vital to our ongoing service provision and one of the best investments that we can make on our customers' behalf."

The exercise was undertaken during the Easter weekend of 26-27th March 2005 and involved the comprehensive testing of building generators by switching off mains power supply for periods of several hours at a time. Each test was undertaken and overseen by Telstra Limited engineers with manufacturers and contractors on site to implement support and analyse the project retrospectively. Thorn continues:
"Business Continuity is much discussed in the industry at the moment and is something we constantly strive to improve for the benefit of our customers. According to recent estimates from Price Waterhouse Coopers as many as 90% of businesses with no pre-existing survival plan will go out of business within 18 months of experiencing a computer 'disaster'."
In addition to offering comprehensive backup and Disaster Recovery services, we are constantly working to ensure our failsafe Business Continuity systems in order to protect our customers from lack of access to services, even in the face of a full-scale disaster. This test serves as a tangible mark of success in this endeavour."

Telstra's London Hosting Centre is a 100,000 square feet purpose-designed and built datacentre located in the heart of London's Docklands. It is resiliently connected to Telstra's UK and Global networks and provides services to many of the UK's largest companies and global telecommunications and internet service providers. Customers can elect to have their own space in the datacentre or have Telstra provide fully managed hosting solutions with 24/7 on-site engineering support.

Notes to Editors:
Telstra Limited is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Telstra Corporation Limited (ASX:TLS). Operational in Europe for over 13 years, Telstra offers an extensive range of voice and data services including total managed network solutions using Global IP-VPN (MPLS), Internet, ATM, Frame Relay, Private Lines, Hosting and Co-location services and enhanced voice solutions to medium sized business and multinational corporations in the UK. Additional value added services include fully managed CPE, network reporting, consulting, planning, project management and customer support seven days a week.
Delivering connectivity business solutions, value-added services and complex managed IP solutions, Telstra Limited's portfolio is complemented by its independently-owned and managed switched network. Switches are located in London, Birmingham and Manchester working alongside 14 co-location points throughout the UK. Additionally, a state-of-the-art, resilient datacentre is located in London, Docklands.
Parent company, Telstra Corporation Limited, is a full service global telecommunications company. It has been ranked as the 5th best performing telco* in the world and is one of the few telcos with an AA credit rating.