iseek lands Queensland gov data centre contract

Queensland government departments will soon start migrating services out of the "ageing" Edward Street data centre in Brisbane to a facility owned by iseek.

Planning for the project was initiated after a 2016 review [pdf] recommended the move.

“Even though there are no critical issues currently with the site, the lack of redundancy in some key services, the high cost of refreshing key infrastructure elements and the high risk associated with operating a facility now in its fourth decade, collectively require a strategy to exit the site by 2020 to be developed," the review stated.

The project to replace the facility formally began in August 2019, and completion is due in September 2024.

iseek said today that it was selected by CITEC - the Queensland Government's primary IT services provider - as the new host for workloads currently hosted in the Edward Street data centre.

iseek is one of three approved suppliers under a standard operating arrangement for data centre as-a-service or DCaaS.

Under today's agreement, CITEC will shift core services and managed services customers to iseek’s LDR2 data centre in Eagle Farm.

The contract extends iSeek's partnership with CITEC for a further five-year term.

As well as its track record in delivering services to government and enterprise customers, iseek noted that a key factor in its selection was its ability to meet the federal [DTA] hosting certification framework standards for whole of government contracts, to a strategic level.

According to the state government’s digital projects dashboard, the replacement data centre is due to be commissioned by the end of September, and redundant high capacity links have been provisioned to the new facility.

However, the dashboard notes that global supply chain challenges could impact project completion: “The current commissioning date (end September 2022) is dependent on remaining supplier equipment deliveries. Global supply chain issues could impact on this date.”

Of the project’s $15 million budget, $2.9 million has been spent to date.