Logan Water Infrastructure Alliance

A Technology Shift for Logan Water Infrastructure Alliance

Background:

The Logan Water Infrastructure Alliance (‘the Alliance’) is a public-private program alliance involving Logan City Council and its partners Downer, Cardno and WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff.

The Alliance is set to deliver up to $180 million of new water and wastewater infrastructure across Logan City over the next three years, including pipelines, pump stations, reservoirs, treatment plants, and network management technologies.

As well as providing much needed water and wastewater infrastructure for Logan’s growing population and economy, the Alliance aims to maximise the value of existing infrastructure, adopt technologies that reduce environmental and social impacts, and provide employment and training opportunities for staff and local businesses.

The Challenge:

Faced with outdated information and communications technology (IT), ageing hardware assets and increasing administration costs, Logan City Council recognised the need to transform the way IT was delivered across the new Logan Water Infrastructure Alliance.

The existing on-premises infrastructure had a number of issues, including limited capacity, poor visibility over networks and data, and inefficient remote access for mobile workers. Of most concern, however, was the lack of security around information and networks.

The storage and backup systems were cumbersome and unreliable, plus a new disaster recovery solution was needed to ensure business continuity in the event of server failure.

It was clear that a major technology transformation was required to power the Alliance over the next three years and beyond. The Alliance sought to leverage Cloud options where possible, resulting in a Hybrid Cloud platform where the team could decommission existing hardware assets and leverage best of breed virtual IT services to improve agility, efficiency and reliability.

The Solution:

With a proven track record of delivering effective Cloud-based IT solutions to both private and public sector organisations, Data^#3 was engaged to implement a full technology shift, from design and configuration to deployment, migration and decommission.

“Data^#3 has exceeded our expectations with the delivery of our new technology environment. Their professionalism, technical expertise and attention to detail have been second to none. Not only did they complete the project ahead of schedule, they also came in under budget.”

Darren McElroy, IT Manager, Logan Water Infrastructure Alliance

Data^#3 moved the Alliance from traditional on-premises architecture to an agile and robust technology model heavily utilising Cloud-based solutions such as Azure and Office 365.

Leveraging Microsoft Azure, Data^#3 implemented a StorSimple Cloud solution for more efficient storage and backup in the Cloud. DirectAccess was implemented to provide seamless, reliable and secure remote access to data and networks for mobile employees.

The Alliance had purchased a Microsoft Office 365 (E3) subscription. Data^#3 enabled the full suite of applications introducing collaboration via SharePoint and Lync Online. Existing email for the Alliance has been migrated to the Office 365 Exchange service. The outcome of this engagement was a significant reduction of the on-premises server footprint.

Data^#3 also performed the migration of the existing server and infrastructure environment to Windows Server 2012 R2, as well as the deployment of System Centre Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2012 R2 for improved IT visibility and device management.

Solution Highlights:

• Delivered a true Hybrid Cloud solution with virtual servers running both in Microsoft Azure and on-premises.
• Provided seamless single sign-on between on-premises and Microsoft Azure, ensuring users do not require a secondary set of credentials to utilise Cloud services.
• Exchange Hybrid Server to facilitate co-existence between the on-premises Exchange and Office 365.
• StorSimple Hybrid Cloud solution to provide enterprise-grade storage, backup and disaster recovery functionality within Azure.
• Extending the network to Windows Azure to leverage Cloud-based
• Extending Active Directory to Windows
• Activated the full capabilities of Office 365 including, Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Lync Online, Office 365 Pro Plus, OneDrive for
• Design and deployment of a new, highly available Hyper-V server environment to address specific business application requirements.
• Migration of existing legacy server and infrastructure environment to Windows Server 2012 R2 and Hyper-V.
• Deployment of SCCM 2012 R2 for best of breed device management.
• DirectAccess to improve and enhance mobility and manageability for mobile

The Outcome:

The Logan Water Infrastructure Alliance now has the right technology platform leveraging Hybrid Cloud to deliver water and wastewater infrastructure for Logan City for the next three years and beyond.

Windows Azure, Office 365 and DirectAccess have supported greater efficiency across the organisation; StorSimple has streamlined Hybrid Cloud data storage and backup, whilst SCCM 2012 R2 has improved IT systems management, including reporting and troubleshooting.

Importantly, the new solution has delivered a highly available and resilient Hybrid Cloud infrastructure to help minimise risk, eliminate downtime, and strengthen disaster recovery capabilities.

The Cloud-based solution has also realised significant cost savings for the Alliance, most notably by eliminating the need to replace hardware assets. Data^#3 was also able to streamline licensing costs over three years to save the Alliance even more money.

The Logan Water Infrastructure Alliance’s IT Manager, Darren McElroy, says the new solution has transformed the way the organisation’s technology environment operates.

“IT is now a driver of efficiency and productivity across the organisation. Network visibility and availability has vastly improved, we have increased capacity and flexibility to adapt to different project stages, plus we enjoy peace of mind knowing that we have the right disaster recovery solutions in place to protect critical information and ensure business continuity.”

Download the Case Study – Logan Water Infrastructure Alliance

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