Cirrus Networks secures $4.5 million Geoscience Australia deal for NetApp, Cisco-based storage infrastructure refresh

Cirrus Networks has secured a multi-million dollar deal with Geoscience Australia to upgrade its storage infrastructure.

The $4.5 million contract involves storage and fibre networking hardware from NetApp and Cisco. An additional $500,000 managed services agreement with Cirrus will provide professional services to support the implementation.

Cirrus said the solution involves NetApp’s FAS storage and Cisco’s MDS switching technology, providing three petabytes of usable capacity consisting of a mix of high-performance SSD and high-density NL-SAS drives.

“The storage infrastructure contract success showcases the established data management consultancy skills the Cirrus team offer our clients, and we’re delighted to be recognised by a very important client such as Geoscience Australia for this best practice solution that delivers true value and efficiencies,” Cirrus managing director and chief executive Chris McLaughlin said.

Cirrus said the upgrade came as Geoscience Australia’s existing environment was nearing end of life and was posing operational risks to the agency.

With the implementation, the MSP said Geoscience Australia will reduce its existing data centre storage footprint from 14 racks across two sites down to a single rack in each data centre.

The NetApp and Cisco solution will replace a number of disparate storage solutions, aiming to provide a simplified management and administration process through the refresh.

Cirrus added the refresh would also facilitate future data centre upgrades and enable modernisation work on its on-premise applications and services, as well as providing future capabilities to extend services to the cloud.

The contract starts immediately and is expected to complete by the end of FY2022.

Geoscience Australia advises on the country’s geology and geography, which covers mineral and energy resources, resilience to hazards, managing water use, sustainable marine environments, digital mapping and as a source of geoscience data for decision making.

Cirrus was named the agency’s official managed services provider as part of a $13 million deal signed in March 2021 following a competitive tender. The company replaced DXC technology.