First birthday of 'Maxi' service

Take-up of the Victorian Government's maxi online transaction network has exceeded expectations in its first year.

In November 1998, more than 24,000 transactions were carried out over the network, fort transactions such as booking a driver's licence test and paying rates or electricity bills. This is three times the monthly target that had been set for maxi's first 12 months.

The Minister for Information Technology, Mr. Stockdale, said maxi had gained international recognition as a world leading application of technology, winning four major international and national awards during the year, including:
· Australian Information Industry Association's "Best use of Internet Commerce" Award;
· Australian Government Technology Productivity Award;
· Japanese Nikkei Award for large systems; and
· Microsoft award for the best worldwide infrastructure solution.

Mr. Stockdale said the anytime access to government service transactions via maxi meant doing Government business was convenient for all Victorians, especially those in rural and regional areas, who could now undertake a growing number of transactions 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.

"In fact, 40 per cent of all transactions on the maxi network are outside of the normal 9 to 5 office hours," he said.

Mr. Stockdale said that as the Victorian Government moved to deliver more of its services electronically, the maxi network would play a key role in providing agencies with an online transactions capability.

The maxi network was developed for the Victorian Government by a joint venture between NEC Australia and Aspect Computing, and is a fully networked infrastructure that consists of multimedia kiosks, an Internet channel (www.maxi.com.au) and a telephone channel (13 27 23).

(News Release, Minister for Multimedia and Information Technology, December 1, 1998)

See also Locations of Maxi Kiosks