The Australian Bureau of Statistics is seeking to keep its security systems up to date, approaching the market seeking antivirus, firewall and device/USB control software.
The ABS runs a large IT environment consisting of statistical, corporate and infrastructure applications and an Internet gateway.
Most of these systems are based in its Canberra data centre with regional offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Darwin supporting file, print and email infrastructure.
“The ABS has a responsibility to uphold confidentially of data and ensure all threats, both internal and external, are addressed and dealt with in the most effective manner possible,” state the tender documents.
“As security vulnerabilities such as impersonation attacks, malicious code execution and unauthorised access continue to expand and threaten IT environments, action must be taken to prevent rather than cure.”
The ABS has a fleet of 2100 x86 servers consisting of HP ProLiant and Cisco UCS blade systems. Ninety-eight per cent of these servers are virtualized and the majority run Microsoft Windows Server.
It has 3500 desktop PCs running the Windows 7 operating system. However, a planned Citrix virtual desktop project will see a shift from the 3,500 physical PCs to virtual desktops during 2015, said the documents.
The ABS wants to establish a three-year contract, extendable up to five years.
The deadline for tenders is October 6, 2014.
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