Data Backup Digest

Queensland Rail aims to be "Australia's best performing railway," and they plan achieve this designation by stepping up their IT game significantly over the coming months. While some of their earliest IT developments date all the way back to 2011, it's their latest move – which trades their self-managed services for a cloud-based system – that has industry experts buzzing.

Big Plans in Australia

As mentioned, the company's quest for IT dominance started in 2011 with the announcement that they were outsourcing their entire IT infrastructure and support desk into a single managed service by mid-2012.
While Queensland Rail would retain responsibility for general ICT strategy, network service, end-user computing and limited Microsoft Exchange functionality, the bulk of their infrastructure was effectively moved to a third party by the specified date.

Under a contract lasting five years and worth $33 million, Logica spearheaded initial move. They utilized data centers in Brisbane to support the fiber network of Queensland Rail.

Colin Holgate, CEO with Logica Asia Pacific, summarized the move by saying: "Our partnership with Queensland Rail will focus on maintaining sound ICT infrastructure and practices and taking advantage of new emerging technologies so we can deliver the best cost and operational efficiencies."

On the other end of the deal, Queensland Rail initial's move were meant to separate them from the rail freight giant QR National, which has since been renamed Aurizon.

Seeking Infrastructure-as-a-Service

To support the next phase of their plan, Queensland Rail is actively searching for third-party partners to provide IaaS (infrastructure-as-a-service) to meet their future needs. They're currently accepting offers from interested parties, but the invitation closes on July 13, 2018.

This was made clear in a recent tender that reads, in part: "Queensland Rail, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is seeking to partner with innovative and forward thinking Suppliers to provide core ICT services to Queensland Rail internal business units and its customers."

Queensland Rail's recent tender was actually issued in two parts. While the initial part focused on IT service integration, data management and service desk delivery, the second part covered managed services, end-user computing, cloud connectivity, print services and online security.

They are also in the midst of an "immediate sale of data center assets" as well as a slower, gradual upgrade of "expendable items such as desktops." Queensland Rail also boasts two large-scale data centers in Brisbane, which their new partner will be required to purchase and transition to an IaaS format.
It's no easy task, but Queensland Rail believes they'll be better off in the end. They hope to have the initial phase of their transition, including service integration, service management and service desk, completed by July 2019.

More Information

Queensland Rail's current infrastructure consists of 437 applications – 132 of which are business-critical programs – and 8,000 end-user devices spread out among 6,500 staff members. To find out more information on Queensland Rail, including details on any of their services or recent developments, please visit their official website at {{https://www.queenslandrail.com.au/|www.queenslandrail.com.au}}.