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ATSB looks to standardise user computing on Surface Pro 2

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has gone to market to assess a refresh of its Windows-based server and desktop computing needs.
Written by Chris Duckett, Contributor

Computing environment refreshes are the order of the day at the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) as the organisation has issued a request for information (RFI) detailing an update of its server and desktop computing needs.

Although currently using Windows 7 as a standard operating environment across the national transport safety investigator, the ATSB is looking to standardise on a platform consisting of a fleet of Microsoft Surface Pro 2s running Windows 8.1 for its approximately 125 staff. The hardware will be purchased through the federal government's whole of government desktop hardware panel.

In tandem with the move to Surface, the organisation will be looking to update its Windows Server environment, Tier 1, 2 and 3 data storage, and to establish communications channels between all ATSB locations. The ATSB's current Windows Server environment consists of a number of HP Proliant machines running Windows Server 2008 R2.

The proposed refresh is currently at the RFI stage, which upon completion, will be reviewed by the ATSB executive for approval, and if successful, to procure the preferred option.

Any contractor that won a future tender would need to allow the bureau to meet its legislative needs to archive data for seven years, and ensure that all data remains within Australia. In the event of any data loss or corruption, the ATSB requires that it loses no more than 24 hours' worth of data.

Despite looking to the market for a managed service solution for most of its IT infrastructure, the agency is looking to retain control of its printer provisioning and management.

The ATSB announced earlier this month that it had chosen to stay with BlackBerry for its phones and handset management. The agency said it was rolling out BlackBerry Z10 and Z30 smartphones, as well as upgrading to BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10.

Interested parties have until December 9 to respond to the RFI.

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