CEO Andrew Makin resigned, and was replaced by Tim Cullinane. 1999 In June 1999, BT bought the whole of Clear. In August, BT paid down Clear's bank debt of NZ$170 million. 2000 In 2000, Clear signed a deal with Vodafone New Zealand to give its customers the use of a mobile network. CEO Tim Cullinane resigned. 2001 Clear was acquired by TelstraSaturn to form TelstraClear for $143 million. Information systems Information Systems at Clear was never a "back-office" cost-reduction function - but rather a key strategic element of the business plan. Bruce Macleod (General Manager of Information Systems) was given responsibility for Clear's Information Systems from the pre-launch (Alternate Telecommunications Company) business plan, through the initial build and start-up stages, the early product launches, the rapid growth and commercial success, and the ongoing competitive differentiation. In this era before the internet arrived, technology use was generally limited to isolated groups of personal computers, and perhaps a departmental mini-computer or a specialized mainframe. Traditional Telecom companies were typically restricted by this inflexible “vertical silo” style of departmental computer systems. In contrast, the IS team at Clear designed a forward-looking corporate-wide layered architecture to permit a nimble response to turning creative marketing ideas into operational product realities. Service Features were quickly created by configuring the upper layers of workflow and applications without having to rework the versatile lower layers. Layered architecture: A foundation layer of desktop computers for all, application servers (including mainframes), and interconnecting data networks. A middle layer of configurable business applications and databases for Customer Service and Billing, Network Operational Support, Business Planning/Decision Support, and Financial Control. A top overlay of operational Business Processes (incorporating both employee and customer workflows) Upon arrival, all employees were equipped with office services such as Email, file servers, spreadsheets, and project management tools to allow them to quickly engage with the rest of the Clear team on priorities and projects. The centrepiece highly-configurable Customer Service and Billing application was acquired from Telecom USA (a recent MCI acquisition). In each other area, “best of breed” applications and any required hardware and software were acquired from global technology partners and locally adapted to fit needs. The “business process engineering” approach was a key factor recognized in Clear's achievement in the “NZ Quality Awards”. In keeping with the overall Clear culture, the Information Systems group was organizationally aligned with, co-located, and integrated into the company's comprehensive