DataCentre as a Service (DCaaS) promises major savings in government IT

Leading Australian Microsoft enterprise hosting provider, Emantra Pty Ltd, has set up in Canberra to provide services to Australian Government departments and agencies seeking the financial and operational benefits of Data Centre as a Service (DCaaS).

It is using top-tier accredited data centre facilities in Canberra exclusively for its government clientele. A new infrastructure has been built to deliver services which conform to government guidelines. This includes an “Office365-like” service with control panel for the smaller FMA and CAC agencies with data classification mandates up to and including “Protected” level.

Emantra managing director Ross Dewar said “As has been well proven in the commercial environment, private shared services deliver huge economies of scale and consequential savings. Of course we can deliver dedicated instance services but the real savings come from a virtualized multi-tenant infrastructure.”

He says the use of such services will be a big step towards the agencies’ Public Service Efficiency Dividend commitments, which otherwise may be difficult to achieve with traditional on-premise installations, especially at the smaller scale.

“Emantra has made an unequivocal commitment to the Australian Government market. We have created a very-high-availability infrastructure which can sustain several thousand users of Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint, Lync and CRM for departments and agencies with compatible data classification requirements. We are also bundling high-end Symantec back-up and filtering services, Blackberry Enterprise Server and Polycom’s Lync-compatible devices for VOIP and Videocon.”

Mr. Dewar says the attraction of this hosting model is that it is pay-by-the-month and easily scalable. Customers can add and delete what they want and only pay for actual usage. Emantra will add third-party accounting and payroll software to its services later this year. The hosting model is supported by a strong service level agreement, with financial penalties where guaranteed uptime is not met.

“We believe smaller agencies will find this type of hosting attractive as they are typically precluded from using offshore clouds because of issues of data sovereignty and security,” Mr. Dewar said.

He said AGIMO, the Department of Defence and others have shown leadership in clearly defining what government is looking for in “cloud” services.

“There is pent-up demand for this type of managed service but the private sector has been slow to commit because of uncertainty about special requirements. These are now being made clearer and productivity and the public purse will be the ultimate winners.”

Prices for hosted services will start at about $30 per user per month.

Mr. Dewar said “we have achieved a reputation in the private sector for delivering assured outcomes using a Microsoft platform. This initiative will replicate that success in a way which conforms fully to Government requirements. We appreciate the support of Microsoft in this initiative.”

Emantra is launching the new service in parallel with its participation in the 2^nd Annual Cloud Forum at the Realm Hotel Canberra on February 22 and 23.

About Emantra

Emantra Pty Ltd is a leading Australian managed IT service provider. It specialises in enterprise-grade Microsoft Software-as-a-Service, Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service solutions to the Australian corporate and government communities. The company has offices in Brisbane and Canberra and was established in 2005. It has Microsoft Certified Gold Competency in Hosting Solutions and has won numerous awards including two Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards.

For further information visit www.emantra.com.au

Produced and issued by Infotech Marketing & Communications. For further information please contact Mike Vanderkelen. Mobile 0408116911