Fujitsu lifts FACS mailboxes into the clouds

Fujitsu today announces that it has signed an agreement with NSW Businesslink Pty. Ltd. on behalf of the Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) to provide a cloud–enabled email service for approximately 27,000 mailboxes across NSW Government agencies. Under the agreement Fujitsu will migrate and run the messaging for FACS under a cloud-based ‘pay-as-you-go’ model. One of the primary benefits of this arrangement is the ability to provide critical front line staff including case workers with increased functionality and remote access through mobile technology.

An initial pilot of 100 users has been completed successfully, marking the start of a three month roll out of Fujitsu’s Messaging as a Service (MaaS) capability across approximately 27,000 mailboxes. The migration will see FACS mailboxes move from an ageing Exchange 2003 platform to a fully featured Exchange 2013 environment in the Fujitsu Private Hosted Cloud located in Fujtsu’s Australian data centres. Under the agreement Fujitsu will provide the platform on an ‘Evergreen’ basis, accommodating ongoing platform upgrades to ensure that FACS always has access to the latest version of the messaging platform.

Albert Olley, Executive Director, Business Services said “This initiative aligns well with the NSW Government strategy of consuming IT services on a ‘pay-as-you-go’ model. The solution provided by Fujitsu will also have a significant community impact, with case workers across NSW being able to access email and calendars on their mobile devices. This means that they can spend more time helping people who are desperately in need of their services.

Mike Foster, Chief Executive Officer of Fujitsu Australia and New Zealand, said “This milestone engagement with Businesslink is proof of the value we can provide to government and commercial enterprises. With our proven cloud platform and a service hosted in our Australian data centres we were able to meet FACS’s stringent requirements to ensure the safety of potentially sensitive data. We are proud to be part of an initiative with FACS that will ultimately help case workers to spend more time with the people who need them.”

Fujitsu anticipates that the roll out of MaaS to FACS will be completed by September 2014.
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