SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has announced plans to outsource the migration of “all workloads” from its on-premises infrastructure to a third-party data center as part of its core modernization program.
Last year, the RBA initiated plans to establish a new colocation data center and modernize its core infrastructure following a high-profile outage in 2022.
The bank has disclosed that it will house its infrastructure and workloads in CDC Data Centres under a $37 million agreement, which will run until March 2034.
An RBA spokesperson mentioned in April that through the remainder of the 2024 fiscal year, the bank’s focus will be on selecting a solution partner to assist with the infrastructure design and build.
The spokesperson mentioned that the new facility will feature ‘future-proof IT infrastructure,’ including Cisco equipment provided by NTT Australia, along with hardware and services from various other vendors.
Appointing a workload migration manager
To facilitate this transition, the RBA will appoint a “workload migration systems integrator (SI)” responsible for migrating all workloads to the new data centre, according to tender documents. This integrator will play a crucial role in ensuring the seamless relocation of the bank’s operations.
The current tender is not for selecting the systems integrator but aims to establish a panel of legal advisers to review the proposed arrangement. The RBA’s legal requirements extend beyond this project, necessitating multiple firms to handle significant IT contracting matters and routine business engagements.
