The partnership with Revera – which includes server and applications hosting, network management, desktop support and data centre services – marks the beginning of a larger IT refreshment programme that will eventually see MOT migrate from Lotus Notes to Microsoft Exchange and the rollout of a new corporate intranet and document management system.

MOT’s current systems were recently migrated to Revera’s Tawa data centre. Revera desktop support is providing onsite and remote support for the Ministry’s 180 desktops and laptop PCs, including 24x7 service desk support.

MOT group manager finance and support services Claire Johnstone said the Ministry is following IT service management best practice framework ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) and chose a “one-stop-shop” with specific infrastructure provisioning qualities to cope with the Ministry’s change strategy.

“We are undergoing significant technology changes, but didn’t have the underlying IT infrastructure to cope with it. The best approach was to put our IT into the hands of a specialist provider to access higher value infrastructure and evolve IT to contract-based service delivery,” Johnstone said. 

 Revera uses a virtualised delivery platform called VDC (Virtual Data Centre) that lets customers buy computing infrastructure from scaleable ready-built zones sharing common security and support blankets.

Johnstone said MOT was following a “cautious” IT strategy, but wanted a partner that provided for secure remote systems access and gave the Ministry the flexibility to share infrastructure and applications with other government departments, in the future. “Our intention is to create truly centralised computing infrastructure that delivers a much better return than distributed networks of servers and makes it easier to share with other departments.”

Revera has notched up several recent successes in the government sector, this year securing a three-year deal worth between $800,000 and $900,000 with the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology (MoRST). It was recently appointed as a technology partner in the Government Shared Network (GSN) initiative, adding to a stable of government sector clients, who also include Transit New Zealand, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Police and Wellington City Council.

Revera CEO Wayne Norrie said his company’s appeal to public sector organisations was its ability to partner. “Partnership is a word bandied about by many vendors, but only few knew what it really meant. For a partnership to work the level of trust must go well beyond just technical ability.”