ASG lands $16 million contract to migrate Queensland utility Unitywater to Azure

IT services provider ASG has landed a contract with Queensland water utility Unitywater to migrate its IT activities to the Microsoft Azure public cloud.

The contract is valued at $16.5 million for an initial term of five years with a two-year extension option, and also includes ongoing management of the infrastructure and applications.

Unitywater provides water supply and sewage services to the Moreton Bay, Sunshine Coast and Noosa regions of Southeast Queensland.

“This is a significant business transformation for Unitywater and we are grateful that ASG has been entrusted with advice and delivery,” ASG chief operating officer Dean Langenbach said.

“Through discussions with Unitywater, we found a very strong cultural alignment, much of this underpinned, we believe, by our standard approach of being commercially competitive and flexible but at the same time being able to drive efficiencies through innovation.”

A spokesperson from ASG told CRN the contract was previously held by NEC Australia.

The company has started working on the transition to Azure, which it expects to complete in April. ASG will then move into full management of infrastructure and applications.

It added that it is also the first managed services contract of such size signed since the integration of ASG with SMS Management & Technology, which it acquired in September last year.

Unitywater chief financial officer Pauline Thomson said ASG offered “great value” which supported the utility’s strategy to minimise price increases to its water and sewerage customers.

“ASG has an industry-leading onshore end-to-end security solution which is vital to us to ensure our business interests and confidential customer data is protected,” Thomson said.

“ASG also has existing relationships within our industry which may assist us in future. We look forward to a long-term relationship with ASG.”

Langenbach added the contract was an endorsement of ASG’s “extensive experience and track record” working with utilities.

ASG’s other utility customers include SA Water, Yarra Valley Water, Coliban Water, Synergy, United Energy, Western Power and Multinet Gas.