iiNet has been awarded a contract to provide Internet access services for almost all Tasmanian government departments for the next two years.
The contract, which does not cover the Department of Education, includes local councils. It was handled by TMD, a division of the Department of Premier and Cabinet that provides whole-of-government communications.
According to the tender documents, TMD wanted to establish a standing offer arrangement with a single contractor for the supply of Networking Tasmania (NT) III corporate Internet services for use by Tasmanian government agencies and other customers deemed eligible by the government.
The Tasmanian government’s aim was to replace its expiring arrangements for the provision of Internet services and obtain value for money in a competitive environment.
This is the first procurement of services to be made through the NT III project to deliver and support a Tasmanian cloud. The cloud initiative means the majority of government data will be hosted in secure, outsourced data centre services hosted in Tasmania.
iiNet’s win requires it to build additional fibre optic links to connect its Hobart data centre to the Tasmanian government’s core network.
Once complete, the ISP will provide Internet services to a central location, with the Tasmanian government using its own network to reticulate Internet access to various agencies.
Earlier this month, iiNet subsidiary Internode was awarded a contract to deliver cloud services to the South Australian departments of premier and cabinet, planning, transport and infrastructure (DPTI) and communities and social inclusion (DCSI).
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