In cyber security, change is constant, but some challenges remain stubbornly familiar. Do you remember the Anna Kournikova virus from over two decades ago? It spread rapidly by tricking users into opening a seemingly harmless email attachment. Fast forward to today, and it’s no surprise that email remains the number one attack vector. The only difference is that the stakes are higher, and as technology evolves, the threats grow more sophisticated.
In our latest Security Minutes video series, with Mimecast, Data#3’s National Practice Manager for Security, Richard Dornhart, and Mimecast’s Senior Sales Engineer, Matt Youman, discuss the critical challenges organisations face and how they can stay ahead. From polished phishing attacks to overlooked attack vectors such as collaboration tools, here are the key insights you can’t afford to miss.
Cyber criminals are leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) tools to revolutionise their tactics. In the first episode, Youman highlights the rapid rise of AI-driven phishing attacks:
With tools capable of learning, adapting, and automating attacks at scale, organisations can no longer rely on traditional defences alone.
While cyber criminals use AI to evade detection, it’s imperative to remember that AI is also a powerful ally for defenders. Youman explores how Mimecast uses natural language processing and social graphing to identify behavioural patterns to help you catch threats that static tools miss.
When Youman reviewed 2,000 emails that bypassed standard security tools, the results were staggering: payroll switch scams and other business email compromise threats had slipped through unnoticed.
Relying on static rules and limited keyword scans is no longer enough. Utilising AI-driven solutions can help you think like attackers, making it easier for your organisation to fight back
It’s not just email. Collaboration tools, essential to everyday business operations, are also becoming an increasingly popular target for attackers. Yet they’re often overlooked in security strategies. Youman shares how Mimecast addresses this blind spot by integrating collaboration platforms into its centralised security solution, enhancing visibility and simplifying management.
Are your collaboration tools secure? If not, attackers may already be exploiting the gap.
Even with advanced technology, people remain the final safeguard. Roles such as those in C-suite, IT, HR, and finance are prime targets due to their access to sensitive data. Youman emphasises that understanding and addressing human risk is vital to any security strategy.
Did you know that Mimecast’s 30-day Email Threat Scanner not only uncovers risks but also identifies patterns of human error? Making it a great tool for helping you tailor training to individual roles.
When was the last time you tested your human defences?
No single tool or strategy can eliminate cyber risk. Reflecting on recent incidents, Youman highlights the critical need to look beyond email when protecting your organisation from cyber criminals.
That’s why Data#3 and Mimecast advocate for a defence-in-depth approach. By layering advanced detection, automation, and human-centric strategies, organisations can:
The final episode showcases Mimecast’s Email Threat Scanner in action. This free tool provides a powerful way to uncover email-borne risks that have bypassed your existing defences. With access to the Mimecast console, you can:
With everything we’ve learned so far, it’s easy to see that the evolving cyber threat landscape requires more than just traditional security measures. The rise of AI-driven attacks, sophisticated phishing campaigns and overlooked vulnerabilities in collaboration tools reveal critical security blind spots that many organisations still miss. Relying solely on static defences alone is no longer enough to stay ahead of cyber criminals.
A comprehensive, defence-in-depth approach is necessary to safeguard your organisation against emerging threats. Don’t delay, each day leaves your organisation open to more attacks. With Data#3 and Mimecast, you’ll take proactive steps to identify and address potential risks that will help protect your organisation.
Mimecast’s Email Threat Scanner Report will give you actionable insights into your current security posture, helping you stay one step ahead of cyber criminals. Don’t leave your organisation’s security to chance—ensure you’re fully prepared for the threats ahead.
Contact your Data#3 Security Specialist today to request your Email Threat Scanner Report and uncover hidden threats before they become a problem.
The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) (Queensland Section) depended on disparate data sources and wanted to integrate aircraft, patient, and crew data to provide a clear picture of availability. This integration was particularly essential for day-to-day operations to ensure they could provide the ‘finest care to the furthest corner.’
“The work we’re doing ensures that pilots, nurses, and doctors have the right information. Rather than a 000-dispatcher calling multiple places to find the right aircraft, we can tell them straight away. For example, we had a critically ill patient who needed to travel to Brisbane, and we could see that the closest crew was not the best match for the patient’s needs and could immediately locate the best option,” said Nick Warwick, Data Integration and Analytics Manager, Royal Flying Doctor Service (Queensland Section).
In this video, discover how RFDS utilised the power of Microsoft Power BI, Azure Functions, Power Apps, and Flow workflows to deliver digital transformation that helps save lives.
With more apps, devices and data than ever to navigate, you need a business partner that can guide and support you throughout your IT modernisation journey. Data#3 holds the highest level of partner accreditations across the Microsoft ecosystem. With expertise that extends from the network and the cloud, to the datacentre and workplace, you can rely on our expert team to guide and advise on the best technologies to meet the demands of the changing workplace.
Contact our team of specialist today to discover how you can transform your organisation with Data#3.
With an increasingly challenging cyber landscape, MercyCare sought to enhance their risk mitigation and response capabilities by accessing expertise and 24/7 monitoring services.
Following an audit that recommended upgrades to their cyber security strategy, MercyCare sought to find a partner with the right level of expertise who could help improve their security posture.
Data#3 has a team of technicians with a strong focus on new technology trends. By combining Data#3’s expertise with SecurityHQ’s service, we felt confident that we would be able to adopt a more proactive approach towards organisational security.
Armin Adineh – Manager – Information Technology, Business Services & Systems, MercyCare
MercyCare supports the Western Australian community, providing services ranging from early childhood settings to aged care. Their 1,400+ staff are dedicated to providing quality care and support to Western Australians through every stage of life’s journey.
The small, busy IT team at MercyCare is acutely aware of the sensitive nature of the organisation’s data, and the need to be proactive in taking steps to ensure it is well protected. An external audit confirmed that it was time to seek additional security expertise.
The security landscape is fast-changing. With the number of Australian organisations affected doubling in the two years to June 2022, the small, busy IT team at MercyCare, led by Armin Adineh, Manager – Information Technology, Business Services and Systems, said it was essential to take a proactive approach.
“We were a new team, and the growing risk of cyber security incidents locally had caught our attention. We were concerned about the impact an incident could have on our ability to provide care for our clients and service users, and we knew we didn’t have sufficient visibility of the network to ensure we were protected. This was compounded by a lack of documentation and understanding of our network. For us, the main thing was knowing what was happening in our systems, identifying vulnerabilities and prioritising them based on risk and impact.”
The IT team was conscious of its responsibility to some of the state’s most vulnerable; MercyCare handles personal and health-related information relating to clients, as well as staff records and financial information. The organisation also have a policy that all data must reside in Australia.
“Security is especially important because we handle a lot of personal information about clients, service users and members of our workforce. We are committed to providing the best care and support to our clients, families and communities. To do this, we need to take all necessary steps to keep information secure and operate in line with corporate compliance standards.
“From a risk point of view, if there were ever a breach, there is potential for financial and reputational damage for our organisation, but it could also have an impact on our clients and families.”
Among the challenges that Armin’s team identified was the need for round-the-clock monitoring and response from a skilled workforce. That simply wasn’t feasible given the resources available in-house. The number of alerts on any day was enormous.
“We were getting over a million security logs in a month. The task of correlating this together, and separating false positives from identified vulnerabilities, was huge, and we could not have maintained that effort at the same time as managing business as usual activities with a limited budget, it would put an unprecedented amount of pressure on our team,” explained Armin.
“Due to budgets and also other aspects of a tough market, we felt we couldn’t have the solution in-house, and we started looking at a security operations centre (SOC). If we went with a solution in-house, we would have to have at least two people to cover leave, and then what are you going to do after hours? Our adversaries won’t stop attacking after hours or because it is Christmas.”
To ensure that appropriate choices were made around possible solutions, and gain a complete picture of the situation, MercyCare invested in an independent security audit. This confirmed that external expertise was needed.
“The audit showed that we needed to have a security team to review and maintain our environment. Based on our assessed requirements and resources, the consultants with the auditors identified that a SOC was the right way to go.”
Using the audit recommendations as a starting point, MercyCare narrowed down their requirements for a SOC partner. After a careful evaluation, they chose to work with Data#3 and their SOC partner, SecurityHQ, who they felt had the right combination of technical capability and culture to support MercyCare’s aims.
“Our focus was on three pillars: people, policies and risk. We wanted to promote cyber awareness to our people, to our executives, and bring them on a journey,” said Armin.
After careful consideration, MercyCare opted for a service that included 24/7 support from the SecurityHQ SOC, including incident response support when needed. Included in the project were regular reporting, and frequent catch-ups with a dedicated, locally-based Data#3 customer experience manager. More detailed planning commenced to prepare for implementation, via a series of workshops and meetings.
“We created a roadmap to use as a foundation for a very constructive methodology to capture all assets and prioritise vulnerability based on assessed risks. We had high-level staff on board, with our technical staff working in close collaboration with Data#3 and SecurityHQ. The most important thing was enhancing cyber awareness within our organisation, and establishing robust policies and procedures to maintain security within acceptable risk appetite.in place. Technology was the final touch, much like the icing on the cake.”
“It was a comprehensive workshop that identified what we had, and asking at first how we can capture all alerts. We have many devices in our network including routers, computers, mobiles, etc. and we had to figure out how to send all logs to the SOC and establish secure connectivity for that.”
The preparation phase included troubleshooting and cleansing the MercyCare environment, and adjusting controls to ensure that alerts were triaged and dealt with appropriately according to pre-defined rules. These rules were then fine-tuned when the system went live.
“The first month was hectic with alerts for nearly everything. We communicated to the SOC team that certain alerts, like password changes by our IT team, didn’t require high-priority escalation and should be toned down. The decision to receive alerts for any event and how to handle them internally was ours.”
MercyCare’s need for transparency was met by the SecurityHQ response platform and APP, which gives them complete, real-time visibility of the current situation and any actions by the SOC team. The team can log in from anywhere and see trends, active incidents, and even the SOC engineers’ notes. Incidents are dealt with by the SOC team, and the MercyCare team is only called when more critical events occur.
“It is very collaborative, with meetings every week with the SOC team where we go through everything happening on the network. As an IT manager, I know that at the end of the week, we have monitoring, and all incidents are reviewed by a team of professionals in a way that could never have happened in-house. I know that if someone is on leave, another qualified specialist is doing that job, and when they come into our meetings, I can see that the handover was done perfectly.”
From the start of MercyCare’s path to introducing a SOC solution, Armin has been clear that cyber security must become a more prominent part of the organisation’s culture. Management support of the independent security audit, and subsequent support from Data#3 and SecurityHQ, have contributed to progress.
“To me, I was struggling to raise awareness, so telling the business how important this was, and bringing them on the journey, really has helped. I had important discussions with management about what we were doing, and we were able to make data-driven decisions. Now, we are more security aware right from the top level, which is a great achievement.”
With the SOC taking on the day-to-day security monitoring and response, Armin’s team no longer has to look through thousands of logs, trying to identify genuine risks among the mass of benign occurrences.
“Feeling that someone was taking care of securing the network properly was the main achievement. We have a defined process in place. Also, our audit outcome went up significantly this year, which gave us reassurance that we were on the right track.”
“The trust is coming back to our IT department which signals that we are doing the right thing, and it is a positive outcome when a third-party auditor comes in and confirms that. That’s when you see the value of our investment.”
The original aim of improving protection of staff and clients has been achieved now that Armin is satisfied that the people awareness, processes and risk management are in place. Not only does investment in security reduce risk to the organisation and help maintain its trusted status, he said it has also changed the game for the MercyCare IT team.
“Putting aside risk and reputation, the SOC gives us peace of mind that a successful, professional team is going to manage that big job 24/7, which frees our time to put more effort into business-as-usual support. Having that peace of mind is very important. We went from reactive to proactive.”
A very important element of the outcome was peace of mind, but I wasn’t expecting to be connected with a team of professionals with this level of friendliness and support.
Armin Adineh – Manager – Information Technology, Business Services & Systems, MercyCare
When researching potential SOC providers early in the project, Armin found that there were “different types” available, and said that the decision came down not only to technology and cost but also the right attitude and approach to working together.
“We had companies that provided similar services, with Data#3 there was competitive pricing, which helped. Also, what connected us with Data#3, and their partnership with SecurityHQ was that they didn’t talk only about what they could provide in terms of technology, they connected with our values and how they could provide services that help us to achieve our goals. Our values connected from both technology and non-technology points of view.”
This approach meant that MercyCare had access to resources and support beyond expectations, with an extended team ready to act on the usual day-to-day issues that arise in a busy IT environment.
“We knew they have a very competent team to help us with other aspects. If, for example, we have an issue with our cloud infrastructure, and I don’t have a resource, I know that the Data#3 team can help me with expert resources to solve the issue,” explained Armin.
“A very important element of the outcome was peace of mind, but I wasn’t expecting to be connected with a team of professionals with this level of friendliness and support.”
Part of the role of the SOC team is to help MercyCare to always improve their security posture, providing a roadmap and prioritising every action. Armin said that knowing there is a dedicated focus means he can sustain momentum.
“In every meeting, we assess the priorities. A good thing about the security team is that they follow you to make sure you are managing the risks. I find that they don’t ever forget, and that’s a good characteristic to have in a security team,” concluded Armin.
Download Customer Story Learn more about security managed services
The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) (Queensland Section) was dependent on disparate data sources and wanted to integrate aircraft, patient, and crew data to give a clear picture of availability.
Having worked together previously, the RFDS (Queensland Section) identified that Data#3 had the capability to tackle a highly complex data integration project, working through rigorous proof of concept stages to completion.
When we could say we had the systems and processes in place that were trustworthy and reliable enough to get our operations centre up and running, it was a huge milestone.
Nick Warwick – Data Integration and Analytics Manager, Royal Flying Doctor Service (Queensland Section)
The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) is a charitable organisation that delivers primary healthcare and 24-hour emergency services to rural and remote Australians. Supported by a vast number of volunteers and supporters for more than 90 years, the RFDS holds a special place in the heart of the nation.
As one of the largest aeromedical organisations in the world, the RFDS faces unique operational hurdles. The crews and aircraft at the frontline work beyond the reaches of consistent data connectivity, so providing service involved considerable manual effort.
Before the RFDS was founded in Cloncurry in 1928, Australians living in remote locations had to travel by horseback, cart, or even camel to reach medical help in an emergency. Since then, the fleet has grown to 79 aircraft that operate from 23 bases across Australia.
The RFDS has expanded its services to include primary health care clinics, patient transfers, research, and a host of other essential care. Data Integration and Analytics Manager (Queensland Section), Nick Warwick, said that modernising the mainly manual RFDS systems was essential to ensure the Service could continue to provide the finest care to the furthest corner.
“One of the biggest challenges is that we operate off-grid, where there is no phone data or internet. If we can get data at all, it is usually slow, with very high latency, low bandwidth, and poor connectivity.”
“In the sky, there is limited connectivity – we have satellite phones and tracking, but we’re not about to be streaming Netflix, and the cost of streaming data is prohibitive. As a result, we operated with a lot of paper-based processes, with many standalone apps operating offline,” explained Warwick.
As well as receiving much-appreciated donations from the public, the RFDS also accepts funding from both state and federal governments. Both levels of government supported the RFDS quest to modernise and innovate, and Warwick said moving away from paper-based systems represented an opportunity to improve care.
“It is all about how we can look after the patient better. Queensland Health has been moving all hospitals to electronic records, and we looked at how we provide information to the receiving hospital, and how the information we add works into that process.”
In addition to integrating patient data from multiple sources, the RFDS (Queensland Section) wanted an Operations Control Centre for the fleet that would have accurate, near-real time data about its fleet and crews. The potential for increased efficiency and faster response times was an important driving force.
“If, for example, a hospital needed a patient transferred, they would ring Retrieval Services Queensland, a service attached to the 000 centre, who would then ring around to find pilots and nurses who were available and had the right skills for the specific job,” explained Warwick.
“We wanted better situational awareness of available flight crews and availability so we could respond to calls faster. In Queensland we have 22 aircraft and 11 crews, and we’re operating 24/7 ready to do medical retrievals. Different aircraft have different capabilities; all nurses are intensive care specialists, most are midwives, and all aeromedical doctors are anaesthetists or intensive care experts. We always need to make sure we send the right combination of specialists when responding to calls.”
There are many considerations for dispatchers. Some aircraft have cargo doors, necessary for certain situations, or have capacity of multiple stretchers, while others may be better suited to landing on outback dirt strips. The dispatcher must rapidly assess and make decisions based on patient needs, location, pilot, and crew skills and even the aircraft itself.
“We had a duty tasking officer whose job it was to advise Queensland Health from the moment of the request, organising everything that was needed for the best patient outcome from assigning the right aircraft and crew, through to making sure that the receiving hospital was ready for them and had a bed reserved.”
Much of the needed information that documented aircraft capabilities and crew skills was held offline, so the tasking officer would have to manually look through hard copy information in multiple locations before an aircraft and crew could be sourced. A task that required manual checking of every piece of information, often with several phone calls.
“We were depending on paper-based processes and stand-alone systems, with someone figuring out what aircraft had what capabilities, and remembering it all in their head. We asked ourselves, how do we get our records all available electronically, and get our systems talking? The goal was to get the right information to the right person at the right time,” outlined Warwick.
“We couldn’t find anything commercial off-the-shelf that would do the job of emergency and flight planning for an airline where we have no advance knowledge of where we’ll being flying to on any given day.”
The RFDS (Queensland Section) began to automate some processes, extract simpler data, and load it into their data warehouse. They gained the ability to run some reports however they were not in real time. They still needed to integrate patient and aircraft data, and to find a way to display the information. All this needed to be managed within a strict budget, as the RFDS team was very conscious of their responsibility to get the most from every dollar of funding.
“We had to find all the bits of information and get them into a spot we could use. Prior to coming on board, Data#3 had done some work with the RFDS around data processing strategy to produce reports. We were initially looking at Azure Data Factory and had done discovery work, and we chose to work with Data#3 and their partner Lynkz for a proof of concept to show if it would work and prove beneficial,” explained Warwick.
“As we evaluated the cost, we realised that Azure Data Factory would not be the right tool, and the team identified that Azure Functions applications would be better suited. We rebuilt the prototype, and it exceeded performance and costing expectations.”
Azure Functions is a serverless solution that allows you to write less code, cut infrastructure requirements, and reduce costs. With the needed resources residing in the cloud, and streamlined development, the affordability factor soared.
Part of the limited proof of concept, for a single view of aircraft information, was the build of a simple dashboard displaying real time details. Even then, Warwick said that getting the go-ahead was “by no means a given”, and the project was put through a strict approval process to ensure that it offered significant value to patients and staff.
“Azure Functions was a much better cost of operations model for us, and we continued to build out the model and started hooking up new systems and looking at the quality of data. It was a real collaborative effort between RFDS, Data#3 and Lynkz,” said Warwick.
As more systems were integrated, some were determined to be no longer fit for purpose, and alternatives were considered for functions such as flight manifests and tracking.
“Data#3 helped us to design and build a new manifest system, and we chose a new partner for a flight tracking system that sends API calls. The capability of our system is now far more advanced than we had previously.”
A key moment was the launch of the RFDS (Queensland Section) Operations Control Centre. This was made possible when key systems were integrated successfully and marked a milestone on RFDS’ commitment to growth in innovation.
“We can now see exactly where we are, whether any of the crew has limitations we need to be aware of, we can see their location, and no longer have to make calls to know where people are, the information is just there. When we look at the board, we can see information about aircraft maintenance needs, and understand the current situation.
“At a glance, we know which aircraft is loaded with NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) equipment, or which staff are available with the right specialist skills. If we’re asked a question, we can just look up and see it on a big display board that shows real time information,” Warwick said.
Display boards are also installed in each of the RFDS locations around Queensland, so that wherever they are, crews, support staff and engineers can access accurate information at a glance.
“The work we’re doing ensures that pilots, nurses, and doctors have the right information. Rather than a 000-dispatcher calling multiple places to find the right aircraft, we can tell them straight away. For example, we had a critically ill patient who needed to travel to Brisbane, and we could see that the closest crew was not the best match for the patient’s needs and could immediately locate the best option.
“At the Operations Control Centre, we have integrated flight systems, manifests, and tasking systems plus the first of our clinical systems, so instructions can be preloaded onto the clinician’s iPad, used offline during flight and the data uploaded at the other end. We can be saving five to ten minutes per patient by passing data over, and the process can remove up to half an hour in tasking communications.”
It’s not only in the Operations Control Centre that efficiencies have been realised. Warwick noted a reduction in effort when aircraft come in for servicing. Engineers can quickly notice when an aircraft will be waiting for a few hours for a patient’s return journey or a hospital handover, thanks to the screens in each location.
“We can now show clearly which aircraft are on call, and which aircraft our engineers can work on. When an aircraft is on the tarmac, engineers can know whether they have time for routine maintenance. Now we have visibility of information, we can improve our operations and work more efficiently.”
For Warwick’s IT team at RFDS (Queensland Section), one of the key success factors was knowledge transfer, with Data#3 specialists providing documentation and helping internal resources to gain confidence in working with Azure Functions.
“We knew at the end of phase one there would be a disengagement process, and if we were successful, we would have produced what was needed and have the skills to maintain it, and this was absolutely achieved.”
We have connectivity options at every site we operate. We’re looking for ways we can improve telehealth, and how we can put equipment like cardiac monitors and diagnostic equipment where they’re of most use.
Nick Warwick – Data Integration and Analytics Manager, Royal Flying Doctor Service (Queensland Section)
With real time information available on screens at each of the RFDS (Queensland Section) locations, the project has been highly visible within the organisation. This has led to demand for additional data to be integrated as the possibilities are considered. Warwick said that the project has highlighted the core RFDS spirit.
“As an organisation, innovation is at the core of what we do. In 1928, nobody had used planes to transport sick people. We’re always looking for the best ideas. Our aircraft now have stretcher loading systems to go straight from the aircraft to ambulance. We have connectivity options at every site we operate. We’re looking for ways we can improve telehealth, and how we can put equipment like cardiac monitors and diagnostic equipment where they’re of most use.”
As an organisation, the RFDS is ever conscious of spending funding wisely, and this impacts the way that technology projects are approached. This makes proof of concepts especially important, and Warwick said that “we’ll give it a go but stop if it doesn’t work”, something that requires a supportive technology partner.
“Data#3’s biggest strength was their attitude. The account manager saw us as a relationship, and had a professional, constructive approach based on mutual respect. They could see what we were trying to do, and their attitude was that we will find a way together to make it work,” praised Warwick.
“If we had more work, there was always give and take, and they were able to find another person.”
Looking to the future, the RFDS has plans to roll out additional services that are much needed by the remote and rural Australians they serve. Warwick said that as well as increasing demand for primary care and dental clinics, the health practice now offers youth mental health care, maternity health, and operates a system of medicinal chests that he hopes will be integrated, so that status can display for the operations centre staff.
“We’re considering projects around geospatial technology, so that when someone calls needing help, we can get lifesaving medications to them from the medicinal chests faster than an aircraft can arrive.”
Given the RFDS spirit of innovation, it is unsurprising that Warwick sees modernisation efforts less as a project with a start and finish and more as an ongoing progression where there will always be opportunities to improve services as new technologies emerge. There’s “no endpoint” when striving for the best patient outcomes. Still, he said it’s also important to reflect on the advances already made.
“When we could say we had the systems and processes in place that were trustworthy and reliable enough to get our Operations Control Centre up and running, it was a huge milestone.”
The accolade was presented at the global HP Amplify Partner Conference, held in Chicago in March. The event welcomed HP’s most valued partners, bringing them together to connect, and to discuss the year ahead and beyond.
Data#3 Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Laurence Baynham, commented, “With a longstanding HP partnership, we remain focused on providing the best possible customer experience to enable our customers’ continued transformation. It was fantastic to connect with the HP executive team in-person, and to discuss how we can work together to help our customers to deliver their digital future. Congratulations to the Data#3 and HP teams.”
The prestigious award recognises Data#3’s outstanding performance and commitment to delivering innovative, HP-based End User Compute solutions, powered by AMD processors.
Data#3 National Practice Manager for End User Compute, Paula Fountain, commented, “AMD was the Diamond Sponsor at the conference, and it was an honour to be presented with the HP AMD Greater Asia Reseller of the Year award by Peter Chambers, AMD Managing Director Sales – APJ.”
“Partnership is key for us at AMD, and we are thrilled to recognise Data#3’s performance with the HP AMD Greater Asia Reseller of the Year for 2022 award,” said Chambers. “This award is testament to their hard work and collaboration with AMD and HP, and we look forward to continue working closely with Data#3 to bring AMD’s innovative products to market.”
“We work with customers across all stages of the technology lifecycle, ensuring the right solution is implemented to achieve their business goals. We are proud of our partnership with AMD and HP, and we look forward to continuing to provide innovative modern workplace solutions to our customers in Australia,” concluded Fountain.
Data#3 is a HP Platinum Partner, an accreditation awarded to HP business partners with the highest technical credentials and sales skills and customer endorsements.
For more than 50 years, AMD has driven innovation in high performance computing and graphics and visualisation technologies. When coupled with powerful HP technology, it improves the way in which users work and play.
From education and healthcare, through to enterprises small and large, these end user compute solutions give users the freedom to work and study securely, anywhere, anytime.
For example, AMD’s processors and graphics solutions have been seamlessly integrated into HP’s education-focused devices, including laptops, desktops, and all-in-one computers. These devices are designed to be durable, energy-efficient, and offer strong performance to meet the demanding needs of students and educators.
Through Data#3’s longstanding HP relationship, the company is a member of several HP programs and boards, including the HP University Program, HP Education and Healthcare Specialisation Programs, and the Australia, Asia Pacific and Worldwide Partner Advisory Boards.
ENDS
From casual hallway conversations to inspired brainstorming sessions to meetings that iron out issues, connecting with each other is how we get things done. These human connections improve collaboration, increase engagement, and make us more productive. Research also shows they make us happier.1
In hybrid work, making these connections no longer means having everyone together in one place. It means making everyone feel as if they’re in one place, regardless of where they are.
This has created new challenges for IT in creating a successful hybrid work environment. We are being asked to provide and support the communication, collaboration, productivity, security, and management solutions necessary for success. Piecing together solutions from multiple vendors only increases the challenges of ensuring devices meet everyone’s unique needs, can be easily managed, and work seamlessly together.
The merger of HP and Poly brings together two leaders to create a complete ecosystem of hybrid working solutions that simplify IT support for complex work environments. This partnership will become the foundation of your successful hybrid work environment today, while allowing you to evolve alongside technology innovations tomorrow.
So, what are the benefits, you ask? I’ve summarised them for you below.
This new single ecosystem that encompasses the best of Poly and HP’s portfolios will provide everything you need to enhance productivity, collaboration, and security for your evolving hybrid work environment.
Poly |
HP |
Headsets, speakers, phones, personal and group video solutions, management tools, services |
Laptops, desktops, workstations, monitors, docking stations, keyboards, mice, security solutions, IT monitoring and management tools, managed services, workflow software |
In addition to enabling you to find the best solutions for every workstyle, space, and UC platform in one place, being able to choose solutions from a single vendor will increase your buying power while reducing acquisition, management, and support costs.
The union of HP and Poly brings innovation from two recognised leaders to the communication and collaboration experiences that are foundational to hybrid success.
Poly audio technologies, such as Active Noise Cancelling (ANC), noise cancelling microphones, acoustic fence, NoiseBlock AI, and beamforming microphone arrays ensure that everyone on the call can hear and be heard clearly without having to strain or raise their voice. Poly’s DirectorAI suite of automated video technology includes personal field of view, group framing, speaker tracking, and people framing to ensure everyone is seen clearly whether they are alone or in a crowded conference room, with virtually no user effort.
Combined with HP’s Presence technology that helps teams stay connected, break down barriers to information sharing, and enables work from anywhere, these innovations will let you create the most engaging and productive collaboration experiences.
Strategic relationships and deep integration between both HP and Poly, as well as leading hybrid work platforms (including Microsoft, Zoom, Google, and Tencent) ensure amazing experiences and seamless interoperability. You can be confident that our solutions will work with these platforms to deliver great user experiences across multiple use cases.
HP and Poly both have robust software tools and services to help you easily manage and secure flexible work and distributed devices.
For example, HP’s manageability services and Wolf Security portfolio enable global management of all HP devices and provides comprehensive endpoint protection and resiliency. Poly’s Lens cloud-based management platform and encryption technologies also provide comprehensive global management and call protection. This combination delivers a hybrid work environment that is easy to deploy and manage and has compelling future integration possibilities.
Both HP and Poly have decades of experience supporting IT departments to meet the needs of their organisations in almost every country. Their world-class support and combined services portfolio offer you expert help with every aspect of your hybrid work environment. With support, managed, and professional services and training on topics that include collaboration, security, working from home, workflow, and printing, they can help you achieve success.
Together, HP and Poly aim to be the world’s most sustainable and just tech company—taking urgent action to combat climate change, protect human rights, and accelerate digital equity. Both HP and Poly have strong sustainability and Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting programs that focus on reducing carbon emissions and building sustainable products, ensuring the safety, privacy and rights of all people, and creating equity for all in the workplace and in the world.
Data#3 also has a rich legacy of supporting our community and environment. Our vision is to harness the power of people and technology for a better future, by committing to our four ESG pillars: people, community, ethics and environment. By choosing a solution with Data#3, HP and Poly, you can both work smart and protect the planet.
The merger of HP and Poly presents an exciting opportunity for us at Data#3 to provide you with a high-quality, single ecosystem of solutions to simplify your hybrid work environments. We are here to help you create premium employee experiences, now and in the future, that improve workforce productivity and collaboration wherever work happens.
Built on a foundation of over 30 years of experience, the Data#3 and HP relationship is constantly evolving to services and solutions that meet the needs of ever-changing business and industry demands. As HP’s largest Power Services Partner in Australia, we work with customers across all stages of the technology lifecycle, ensuring the right solution is implemented to achieve your business goals.
Underpinning Data#3’s HP Power Services Partner status is our commitment to achieve the highest levels of competency and customer satisfaction across HP key specialisations, including workstation, DaaS, retail, healthcare, education, managed print, client virtualisation and sustainability. From the moment you start to research the right solutions for your organisation through to their adoption and ongoing management – we’re by your side.
The accolade was presented at the HP Annual Partner Awards night held at The Star in Sydney.
Data#3 National Practice Manager for HP, commented, “What a fantastic achievement to receive this recognition. Whether aiming to reduce costs, improve processes, or build infrastructure to capitalise on growth opportunities by leveraging the expertise of Data#3 services combined with HP’s innovative, market-leading solutions, customers can successfully achieve their business objectives.”
Data#3 is HP’s largest Power Services and revenue partner in Australia, delivering superior solutions and services to private and public sector organisations nationwide.
Underpinning its HP Power Services Partner status is Data#3’s commitment to achieve the highest levels of competency across HP key specialisations, including workstation, DaaS, retail, healthcare, education, managed print, client virtualisation and sustainability – and its exceptional customer success lifecycle approach.
“Data#3’s end-to-end lifecycle approach ensures customers clearly understand the outcomes they can expect their investment to deliver, and the design, installation, deployment and adoption processes needed to get them there,” said John Tan, Chief Customer Officer at Data#3.
“Congratulations to both the Data#3 and HP teams on this well-deserved accolade.”
Data#3 has also developed a breadth of additional capabilities to unlock value for its customers. It has built a practice centred on HP technology solutions and has a team of solution specialists dedicated to helping customers to deliver their digital future.
It’s been a long-awaited update, but the latest generation of Surface Studio has finally arrived – Surface Studio 2+. This follows the original Surface Studio launched in 2016, and Surface Studio 2 in 2018. There are big hopes for this model, but four years on, are the upgrades as impressive as expected?
Before we answer that question, here’s a little refresher on the very unique Surface Studio.
Unlike several other Surface devices, you can’t slip it in a bag and tote it around. However, that’s not what Surface Studio is designed for anyway. Surface Studio is a truly impactful device for modern workplaces and customer-facing settings.
Even just a few generations in, this adjustable, all-in-one touchscreen device has gained a massive fan base amongst creators, 3D designers, R&D visionaries, data workers and more. It’s jam-packed with amazing colour and graphics, blazing-fast processing, intuitive inking and immersive conferencing.
With the upcoming release of Surface Studio 2+, a significant increase in performance and enhanced features promises to further unlock creativity and productivity in the hybrid workspace, and look phenomenally good doing it. Let’s take a look!
Australian release date: 1st November 2022
Most suited for: engineers, designers, researchers, data professionals, animators, architects
Upgrade focus: Less about form and more about incredible graphics and powerful performance
The Surface Studio 2+ screen looks almost identical to its predecessor with the same generously sized 28” PixelSense touchscreen with a 4500 by 3000-pixel resolution. However, the main improvement here is the Dolby Vision support which allows for a more extensive number of colours, brightness and contrast and a more natural look on the screen.
The massive reclining touch display is ideal for 3D modelling and split screen multitasking with up to four at once or immersive conferencing. Users can work upright at the desktop by lowering and raising the display with the Zero Gravity Hinge, or down low at an angled drafting table.
Whereas Studio 2 has a single USB 3.1 type-C port, there are now three Thunderbolt 4 connections. The 3.5mm audio port remains, but the card reader has vanished. Wireless connectivity has also taken a step forward, with Wi-Fi 6 replacing Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth graduating from 4.1 to 5.1. As a result, users can expect a far better wireless peripheral experience with this latest iteration.
Audio quality has been given a generous boost moving from 2D immersive technology with Dolby Audio speakers thanks to Dolby Atmos, a 3D immersive technology that ‘tricks’ your ears into thinking that sound is coming from all directions, not just in front of you. It’s a highly sought-after feature and a truly immersive sound experience. The webcam specification stays the same, offering 1080p FHD video, Studio mics and support for Windows Hello facial recognition.
Another big plus is the number of replaceable and repairable components that will extend the life of your Studio 2+. These include the display module, feet, SSD module, PSU, thermal module and motherboard.
Graphics-intensive workloads such as 3D rendering, animation and video editing will be more than supported by the very capable new Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU, an improvement on the GTX 1060. However, it’s the new Intel 11th gen processor Core i7-11370H processor that really shines, a chip that Microsoft says makes Studio 2+ 50% faster than Studio 2. As an all-in-one desktop aimed at professional users, these performance upgrades will undoubtedly power them through all their power-intensive, multi-tasking workloads – and then some.
As customers return to in-person interactions and employees return to the office, inspiring technology with impactful design creates that next level of professionalism. Surface Studio 2+ will impress on sales floors, reception desks in healthcare and other enterprises, hotel lobbies, or as an executive desktop. However, it also ties into the battle for talent. Studio 2+ is a crucial technology advantage that will help attract top talent.
Overall, if you’re looking for more power and better graphics, more immersive video and sound, and a high-end experience, Studio 2+ more than delivers. While the plus in its name indicates that it’s not quite the anticipated full leap forward hoped, if you’re planning on upgrading your top-level user devices, you should absolutely choose this latest model.
Data#3 is your go-to partner for end-to-end support, maintenance and training for all your Surface fleet requirements. Find out how we can transform your team with the Surface suite at the best possible prices, or pre-order from the new Surface family with us.
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Victoria State Emergency Service (“VICSES”) is a volunteer-based organisation that provides emergency assistance services throughout Victoria. Following a migration from an original on-premises environment to the Microsoft Azure platform, the VICSES identified that 25 workloads ran on Windows Server 2008. Many workloads had been migrated “as is” from the original legacy physical servers, which had been in production for more than ten years. An upgrade was vital to prevent risk to the organisation.
In alignment with both government and internal procurement policies, VICSES embarked on a request for quotation process. As the incumbent managed service provider, Data#3 had a deep understanding of VICSES’ plans for the project, and outlined an alternative approach that would reduce organisational risk and amplify beneficial outcomes.
They’re authentic, and they understand who we are, their solutions are catered to our profile. Also, they’re flexible and adaptable – as the project changed, they were able to adjust themselves because they have the resourcing and commitment behind them.
Silvia Silverii – Chief Information Officer, Victoria State Emergency Services
Victoria State Emergency Service (“VICSES”) is a volunteer-based organisation, providing emergency assistance to minimise the impact of emergencies and strengthen the community’s capacity to plan, respond and recover, when emergencies occur.
The VICSES has 149 units, 13 offices and 7 mobile command vehicles across the state of Victoria that must interact with the head office in Melbourne’s Southbank. They are in the process of modernising IT systems, and with end of support for Windows Server 2008 approaching, VICSES needed to ensure their technology was upgraded before the support expired.
Anyone who has seen VICSES step up to help communities grappling with natural disasters will know that the organisation knows how to respond to risk. While crews are highly trained in handling fire, flood and storms, VICSES CIO Silvia Silverii must focus on reducing risk across the organisation by ensuring maintenance of the VICSES server environment is up to date.
As a Statute Authority, VICSES is is governed by a Board, which is accountable to the Minister for Emergency Services. Therefore, VICSES is required to comply with state government guidelines on IT policy. With a whole of government initiative underway to migrate from Windows Server 2008, VICSES was conscious that aging workloads, migrated from an on-premises environment to the cloud, would have to go.
The update required conformity to a strict schedule: with completion expected no later than December 2019, the small IT team had a challenging task ahead.
“I didn’t know if we would be able to do that project at the same time as supporting the organisation, if it was not completed before the reaching the height of the fire season. We knew that if we waited, we ran the risk of additional costs to the business,” explained Silverii.
While some basic support options were available for Windows Server 2008 in Microsoft Azure, VICSES would not have realised the increased resilience and simpler management of the modernised 2016 version. The VICSES team developed a plan in which they would perform much of the upgrade work, aided by external application vendors.
“Data#3 were already our managed service provider, and I knew they were the ones with the most information about our environment. We had been working with Data#3 for four years already, and during that time we never had any significant issues or outages from them serving our environment in Azure. Given we had only six months to complete the project, it was a natural choice,” said Silverii.
After discussion with VICSES, the Data#3 team recommended an alternative approach that would reduce the burden on the small in-house IT team. The proposal reduced risk of servers failing in place after the upgrade, and this approach matched the VICSES emphasis on dependability. VICSES engaged Data#3 to build a new Windows Server and Citrix environment on Azure, with the VICSES team managing application migrations. Work commenced quickly, pressing ahead before what eventually turned out to be an especially severe 2019/20 bushfire season.
“We not only made the deadline, but we met it before we were in the height of the fire season, which is a critical season for emergency services,” confirmed Silverii.
The direct project cost of Data#3’s proposal was higher than the initial VICSES plan, in which more work would have been completed in-house. However, for the VICSES team, the saved time and effort of the internal workforce was a tangible benefit.
“We learned how to be more strategic about using our Microsoft Service Provider, understanding that there’s a tangible cost to increased risk and a cost to internal resources. ” explained Silverii.
Given the relatively short timing window before the oncoming bushfire season, VICSES opted to direct their highly skilled in-house team to focus on other critical tasks. After recognising Data#3 as essentially an extended part of the team, it was simply a matter of managing all IT resources where they could achieve the best overall result.
“Our in-house team would have been more stretched by managing this project in addition to other pressing tasks, and the likelihood of failure would have been higher. Given we are a small, nimble, intelligent team, the risk of missing our deadline was problematic.”
The project ran smoothly, with team experiencing no disruption to users as the upgrades were implemented. Importantly, in such a busy time, trust in your partner to get on with the job at hand is imperative.
“The way they managed the project was with endorsed autonomy. They went about and got it done almost unnoticed, which for me was a good sign for me. Our project manager served as a touchpoint, and Data#3’s ability to work autonomously meant our project manager could focus on other high priority tasks,” explained Silverii.
“The December deadline was met, and Data#3 completed their elements far before that. Data#3 managed the server upgrades, we did the application migrations, and they did the disposal.”
By early March, more than 3,500 fires had been contained or extinguished, with VICSES members joined by interstate and overseas counterparts to support local communities where over 1.5 million hectares of land had burned across Victoria. In this catastrophic event, communities throughout the state were helped by VICSES. As regional populations began the recovery, the world was hit by another crisis, in the form of the Coronavirus pandemic.
We can’t make significant changes to systems with that kind of emergency going on, but Data#3 were instrumental in ensuring we were prepared and able to service our community during these catastrophic events.
Silvia Silverii – Chief Information Officer, Victoria State Emergency Services
Although few organisations could present such a dramatic example, the advantages of a strong Microsoft Service Provider relationship are evident. By creating a team atmosphere in which candour is welcomed, VICSES was able to reap a stronger result.
“We had a view about how to do the upgrade, we presented it to Data#3, and they helped us explore our options. They put forward a compelling case to take a different road that we had originally considered. Although we had concerns with our ability to get this update deployed as quickly as possible, Data#3 took the time to explain how we could maximise the value of our technology investment,” outlined Silverii.
“The difficulty shifted from our team to theirs, they would do the heavy lifting. We quickly learnt that we were making it harder on ourselves, by not leveraging off their expertise.”
While technical strength is a given, finding the right fit culturally is equally important, and this has been the case with Data#3, whose account and technical team won approval with VICSES.
“They’re authentic, and they understand who we are, their solutions are catered to our profile. Also, they’re flexible and adaptable – as the project changed, they were able to adjust themselves because they have the resourcing and commitment behind them.”
VICSES credits much of the relationship’s strength to account management that focuses on working together, rather than short-term transactional gain. The team acknowledged that Data#3’s willingness to understand a project, and explore other options to make a project succeed “cannot be underestimated”.
“As a CIO, having the account manager on top of the project, giving me weekly updates, meant I didn’t have to delve into detail or drill down into it.”
Alongside the guidance from fellow Victorian government agencies such as of the Department of Justice and Community Services, Emergency Management Victoria, Silverii also values the community of IT professionals among the emergency services in Victoria. Because they share many similar challenges, they frequently discuss the strengths of IT providers, and she says “reputation is everything” in this close-knit group.
If you’ve been scanning the forums, checking the tech blogs or refreshing your email waiting for an email to announce its release – well, we are happy to announce that business models for the Surface Pro 8 have arrived and are currently being shipped.
Spoiler alert! The meaningful upgrades to the Surface Pro 8 have definitely made the two years wait worth it, particularly for our business and education customers.
As the dust settles on Surface Pro 8’s release, we’ve analysed the significant upgrade specs and taken the pulse of our team and customers, and brought it all together so we could share all that’s new with Surface Pro 8.
The Surface Pro line are powerful touchscreen devices featuring desktop, laptop, tablet, and kickstand modes, a built-in Surface Slim Pen, plus outstanding audio visuals for remote working. Their extreme mobility and powerful engine have made them a perfect fit for evolving hybrid workstyles.
Every new iteration gains power, and Surface Pro 8 is no exception. The last-gen Surface Pro 7 featured older, 10th-gen Intel processors; Surface Pro 8 takes the device to an 11th-gen Intel quad-core CPU, starting with i3 and includes up to 32GB of RAM.
One key feature that has captured the attention of our customers is Surface Pro’s removable SSD. In particular, our government and healthcare customers – or any business with sensitive information for that matter– will find this feature invaluable when minimising the risks of disposing of end-of-life equipment. Like the Pro 7+, Surface Pro 8 comes in four configurations 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB.
The size of the screen is the most noticeable upgrade, up from 12.3in to 13in. While this might not sound like a lot, the difference is noticeable! On top of this, the bezels have been narrowed and there’s a new resolution to maintain the aspect ratio: 2880×1920. All in all, the total footprint of the device is much the same as Surface Pro 7, just with more screen real estate to play with.
There is also an option to double the refresh rate from 60Hz to a massive 120Hz making the on-screen media amazingly smooth, improving scrolling and make the stylus easier to use. If you’re a gamer, you can expect a far better experience too.
Next up, battery life. Microsoft is promising up to 16 hours of battery life on the Surface Pro 8, enough juice to see you through the day and then some. But note that this is based on typical usage, so it’s not set in stone. The main battery-drain culprits are power intensive and non-native apps, so if you’re using these often expect your mileage to dip.
For teams to effectively collaborate across geographies, they need reliable connectivity. Surface Pro 8 provides support with LTE Advanced ensuring a secure, stable connection anywhere, anytime. In addition, the built-in audio visuals of Surface Pro have been getting progressively better with each new model. There’s a Windows Hello face authentication front-facing camera, as well as a 5.0MP front-facing camera with 1080p full HD video. There’s also a 10.0MP rear-facing autofocus camera with 1080p HD (that’s up from the 8 MP back cam on the Surface Pro 7) and 4K video, dual far-field Studio Mics and 2W stereo speakers.
Together, these features provide all the pieces of the collaboration puzzle, ensuring crystal clear communications and seamless connections time after time.
Surface Pro 8 has a Type Cover connector with magnets along the bottom allowing users to add an external Surface Pro Signature Keyboard – available in a choice of colors. The mechanical keyset, backlit keys and optimum key placement makes for a comfortable typing experience and a large glass trackpad allows accurate input. A kickstand allows users to adjust both the angle of the device and keyboard as needed.
The Surface Pro digital pen experience is pretty advanced with virtually zero lag. It’s called Surface Slim Pen 2 and it comes with haptic feedback that creates micro vibrations making it feel like you are authentically writing with pen on paper and, if drawing, it provides incredible pressure sensitivity. And when you’re done, you can slip the pen into the case holder to keep it safe while charging. It might sound gimmicky, but it is really very impressive and enjoyable to use.
Note that all accessories come separately, so it will add a little to the device cost if you choose to bundle them up.
Thunderbolt’s have been a frequently requested feature for the Surface Pro line, and thankfully the powers that be have listened. The Surface Pro 7’s USB-C and USB-A ports have been replaced with two Thunderbolt 4/USB 4 ports. This is important because one Thunderbolt 4 is able to support two external 4K external monitors for dual-monitor setups, and ultimately, multitasking. This still leaves a second port for external hardware like hard drives or USB hubs.
As should be apparent, there’s quite a few reasons why so many customers have been patiently waiting for Surface Pro 8 to hit our sunny shores. More performance, longer battery life, bigger displays, better cameras, and connectivity options – it’s all in this latest model, and we expect Surface Pro 8 to fly off our shelves.
If you would like to see how this device will enhance your current fleet, contact us to secure a demonstration unit today. Data#3 is your go-to partner for end-to-end support, maintenance and training for all your Surface fleet requirements.