"The Australian arm of Sony Computer Entertainment is looking to portal technology to help its "mean and lean" workforce stay on the move.

The company is piloting token-based remote access tools to help its 45 staff in Australia keep on target.

Last fiscal year each of the local Sony business employees generated about $6 million in revenue.

"The business plan is to keep head-count low and work with business partners in key areas," Sony Computer Entertainment Australia and New Zealand managing director Michael Ephraim said.

The company has a long-term arrangement with the IBM Business Consulting group for its technology needs. The most recent multimillion-dollar contract was signed in 2004.

Key components of the contract, so far, include the installation of a SAP enterprise resource planning platform internally and the creation and hosting of websites and an online games environment based on the PlayStation Portable and the PlayStation 2.

Because of the distance from Europe the business needed to create an online games environment for the PS2 from the ground up, Mr Ephraim said.

"This involved infrastructure, including hosting arrangements and building relationships with providers of internet service," Mr Ephraim said.

The site will be used as a framework for the PlayStation 3, which is scheduled for release late next year. The PS3 will have expanded videoconferencing functions and will support multi-player online games." [more]