ABS shifts ICT equipment off premises for three-year contract

Canberra Data Centres has been granted a three-year contract to host the Australian Bureau of Statistics' ICT equipment, which will shift from its ageing on-premises housing.

The $4.2 million contract will see the CDC provide all data centre facilities required by the ABS including space, power and cooling. The ICT equipment is currently hosted at ABS House.

ABS' equipment will remain under the bureau's control for security and management, a spokesperson told CRN.

An ageing data centre and the end of ABS House lease in March 2017 were the department's main reasons for pursuing a new location.

The ABS used the whole-of-government data centre facilities supplies panel to approach the market for services. Currently, the panel has 16 suppliers: Australian Data Centres, Canberra Data Centres, Datacom Systems, Datapod, Digital Sense Hosting, Fujitsu Australia, Hewlett Packard Australia, iiNet, Iseek Communications, Macquarie Telecom, Metronode, Nextdc, NTT Com ICT DC Solutions, Pacnet Services, Red Cloud and Vocus Data Centres.

"Canberra Data Centres provides highly secure, reliable, environmentally friendly and sustainable facilities which meet all required standards," the spokesperson said.

The CDC was chosen for offering what the ABS needed at a suitable price and because it also hosts a "large number of significant government agencies", including the Department of Immigration and Border Security and the Department of Human Services.

The ABS ICT equipment will be in pods assigned to the ABS and will be further secured by ABS locks, monitoring and alerting.

In May 2016, CDC had 96 percent of its stake acquired by Australian government pension fund provider Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation and New Zealand civil infrastructure investment company Infratil in an $800 million deal.

CDC joint founder and CEO Greg Boorer and long term stable management team remain and retained 4 percent of the company.

In August, CDC announced a partner ecosystem to connect IT service providers with public sector buyers in Canberra.