WA reseller's major cloud makeover for mining firm

Epic IT has implemented new cloud-based computing facilities for an indigenous community-owned mining contractor.

Northern Project Contracting, a rural Queensland company that provides earth crushing, labour hire and other mining services, now has staff using thin clients to access centrally managed data.

"We provided a remote desktop environment for all their drilling and office sites situated in Queensland –Brisbane, Mackay – and Western Australia [in the] Pilbara," Epic IT managing director Greg Markowski told CRN.

"All their staff connect via Microsoft RDS into a private cloud system located in Perth to access core company files and also the ERP system."

Markowski said that to his knowledge, NPC previously had scattered workstations "very prone to data loss" with no centralised data storage and backups.

NPC has sites spread around Australia so the use of the thin terminals has seen ongoing maintenance advantages over the old client-server model.

"[The solution] is very easy to support, being a thin client end user environment in a remote region," Markowski said. "It's easier to ship hardware to replace terminals rather than troubleshoot complex desktops onsite or remotely.

"No technical onsite staff are required to manage and maintain the system. The core hardware has been removed and most terminals are solid state with no moving parts."

At the other end, the cloud has removed the considerable environmental risk of remote mining locations.

"You are removing common 'Northern Queensland and WA' natural disaster elements such as cyclones, flooding etc, having the data securely based in an enterprise data centre situated in sunny Perth," Markowski said. "Perth has the best weather in the world, by the way."

The technology revolution continues for NPC.

"Epic IT will next be integrating their system further into the Microsoft 365 platform to offer SharePoint online services to be accessible even more easily outside their RDS profile environment from any device," Markowski said.

According to the NPC, its civil construction and mining industry business trains and employs local Aboriginal people to enable "communities to take part in wealth-generating activities on their traditional lands, and offers long-term economic benefits to their communities". The firm started as a joint venture but is now wholly owned by representatives from the Waanyi nation.