Sydney, May 23, 2011
Fujitsu Australia & New Zealand, a leading provider of ICT business solutions, today announced that Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA) has selected Fujitsu Cloud Services as the infrastructure underpinning the ‘Saves Time Saves Lives’ ICT project. The national operations of Australia’s iconic volunteer organisation have been streamlined and automated by the comprehensive redesign of its service applications and delivery.
SLSA recognised the cost advantages of a cloud solution, and Fujitsu’s Infrastructure-as-a-Service proposal was selected to provide a key component of SLSA’s solution, part of a business case put to the Federal Government, which provided the funds for the three year project in 2008. Cost efficiency is one of the key pillars of the ICT project as well as its funding.
Starting with a review of SLSA’s IT systems in 2008, the ‘Saves Time Saves Lives’ project aims to improve service levels, save time and facilitate commercial expansion by providing sophisticated business and communications tools and applications. Through the provision of a cost-effective infrastructure, the SLSA project will benefit members, employees, clubs, the organisation and importantly, all Australian beachgoers.
Gary Daly, National IT Manager for Surf Life Saving Australia, said: “As an organisation powered by the time and commitment of over 43,000 patrolling volunteer lifesavers, one of the greatest challenges for SLSA is reducing the amount of time required for the administration of clubs and services. The new Fujitsu cloud infrastructure will allow us to address these efficiency requirements as well as the increasing need to provide broader and better services; and to collect more data for internal management, government reporting and public education programs. The cloud solution helps us overcome the severe limitations on the dollars we have to spend on IT.”
The development of the ICT project has seen Fujitsu so far provide a centralised operational data store (CODS) and reporting application that allows the SLSA access to a single national enterprise view of its information; applications that service the SLSA community across the country; a members’ portal which is linked to web-based content and workflow management; and voice recognition and telephony services to enable on-beach access to services.
The CODS, reporting application and portal development was hosted in the interim by Fujitsu’s Datacentre Web Hosting services. In the next two months Fujitsu will transition the completed work to the cloud infrastructure.
Cameron McNaught, Group Executive Director, Solutions and Cloud Services for Fujitsu Australia and New Zealand, said: “SLSA was one of the first organisations presented with a Fujitsu cloud proposal and they were immediately and enthusiastically convinced of the long term flexibility and cost advantages of cloud based infrastructure. This farsighted organisation is committed to not only saving lives but is also acutely aware of the need to save money as it provides the best possible service to its highly valued volunteer members and the Australian public.
“We congratulate this innovative organisation in its use of advanced technologies to improve public education and safety in a highly accountable and cost effective way.”
The final phase of this project will see a review of SLSA’s legacy systems, which will provide Fujitsu with a further opportunity to assist SLSA to move its full IT infrastructure from ageing on-premise servers to the efficiencies of cloud.