​Victoria SES sends emergency services to Microsoft's public cloud

Business technology solutions firm Data#3 has announced the completion of a hybrid cloud deployment, including Microsoft's public cloud, with the Victoria State Emergency Service.

According to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX)-listed company, the Victorian SES is the first emergency services organisation in Australia to entrust its core infrastructure to a public cloud.

The Victorian SES provides 24-hour state-wide emergency assistance and responds to critical incidents and emergencies, including bushfires, floods, storms, road rescues, and search and rescue operations.

"The new technology gives our people in the field quick and easy access to our systems, which is so important when it comes to reporting incidents and emergency information," said Andrew Ferrarese, information services manager for Victoria SES.

"Whether it's providing location data for response coordination or assessing potential threats, our new ICT environment plays a crucial role in minimising risk to the community."

The contract with Data#3 also includes a three-year support plan for managed services.

In October, Data#3 secured a contract with the Queensland Department of Education and Training for the refresh of up to 12,000 HP devices.

Also awarded in October was a AU$1.4 million contract to provide the Australian Taxation Office with DDoS protection capability.

Data#3 also deployed a Cisco network service at Edith Cowan University (ECU) in July last year, with the services providing covering strategy, design, implementation, and ongoing management. It also included upgrading ECU's existing network to Cisco's latest fixed and wireless technology.

For the first half of the 2017 financial year, Data#3 reported AU$5.8 million in net profit, up 34 percent over the corresponding period a year prior.

Revenue for the six months to December 31, 2016 was up 10.6 percent year on year to AU$506 million, which included cloud-based revenues of AU$58 million.

Total product revenue from hardware and software sales and subscriptions increased by 11.5 percent for the period, from AU$371.1 million to AU$413.9 million. Data#3 said this reflected strong growth in public cloud solutions, which was up 32.5 percent to AU$53.3 million, as well as steady growth in other on-premises solutions, which experienced 9.0 percent growth to AU$360.7 million.

During the six-month period, total services revenue increased by 6.6 percent from AU$85.6 million to AU$91.3 million, which included AU$4.7 million of cloud-based services.

Operating expenses for the half came in at AU$66.7 million.

For the 2016 financial year, Data#3 reported a 30 percent year-on-year increase in net profit after tax to AU$13.8 million, with gross profit up 13.2 percent to AU$146.6 million.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) was up 31.6 percent to AU$22.4 million on revenue of AU$983.2 million for the 12-month period.