The national ITC Office based at the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) awarded the tender to Aiscorp, a Wellington-based IT solutions specialist, now its technology partner for the upgrade of its network infrastructure. Aiscorp was selected for a multitude of reasons including that the company had worked with the Government of Niue on a similar IT solutions rollout.
The first shipment of hardware as part of the Cook Island’s Government ITC network upgrade due for completion by end of December 2021, has arrived on Rarotonga.
The existing Government ITC network was built in 2012 and has received little maintenance and upgrades since. Many of the Government’s network hardware and software had reached the end of its life leading to various difficulties such as email outages, data storage and disruption to internet cloud-based services for critical services such as payroll, tax and justice.
The national ITC Office based at the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) awarded the tender to Aiscorp, a Wellington-based IT solutions specialist, now its technology partner for the upgrade of its network infrastructure. Aiscorp was selected for a multitude of reasons including that the company had worked with the Government of Niue on a similar IT solutions rollout.
Pua Hunter the OPM ITC Director says “We want to ensure efficiency within Government processes and that we are on the road towards digital transformation. We're grateful that we are now finally able to address all of the issues we have been having.”
Aiscorp Managing Director Elmar Gailitis said,
“This project sits comfortably with our mission of being a company that delivers innovative IT solutions. By working collaboratively with our clients, we use our combined talents and skills to deliver better ways of working. This project will transform how the Cook Islands Government works by improving the way it connects and communicates with its internal and external clients right across the islands and the world.”
Aiscorp will work with the OPM ITC project management unit based in Washington DC as well as the OPM staff on the ground, reporting back to the OPM Chief of Staff, Ben Ponia. Due to COVID-19 and restricted travel, much of the project will be completed remotely from New Zealand.
From a technical standpoint, the rollout will see Government and Aiscorp implement a hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) solution, consisting of hyper-converged nodes, hardware virtualisation, storage virtualisation, network connectivity and management system. The team will also ensure the design, supply, installation, configuration and testing of a site wide network solution consisting of zero-touch provisioning capability, L3, L2 and wireless connectivity of up to forty-eight Government Agencies.
Aiscorp will leverage IP from partners Lenovo and Fortinet, as well as the company’s value-add and intellectual property from Government to deliver and support the best outcome for the Cook Islands.
Lenovo ISG Managing Director ANZ Nathan Knight commented,
“Building on the long-standing partnership Lenovo has with Aiscorp and the work they have done in the Pacific, we are excited to be providing smarter infrastructure solutions to the Government and helping the Cook Islands undergo a digital transformation. Our experts have worked together to design a solution around Lenovo Thinkagile VX HCI appliances leveraging VMware software for hyper convergence, reporting and automation. We believe this solution will be a showcase example of a software-defined data centre and look forward to assisting Aiscorp and CIG with a successful deployment.”
Fortinet senior director regional sales, Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands, Jon McGettigan commented “Fortinet has been proud to work with the Government of Niue to keep its operations secure for more than a decade. Now, this protection will also extend to the Cook Islands, where Fortinet solutions will help the Government provide e-government services and protect its citizens from the growing number of cyber threats. The Fortinet Security Fabric will help combat cyber risk for the Cook Islands Government as it progresses in its digital transformation journey. Fortinet looks forward to providing an exceptional level of support and protection to the Cook Islands in the years ahead.”
The modern HCI platform will meet security and access standards required for a Government to provide e-Government services. It will allow users to be digitally mobile in a secure environment and will allow the secure exchange of information with other Government agencies.
In addition, the unified security solution is broad, integrated and automated to protect the Government and its citizens from the rapidly expanding attack surface. Progress towards e-Government will be advanced through unified and resilient network infrastructure with greater centralisation of ICT services.
Along with the technology, a crucial aspect of the job is that Aiscorp will share a detailed training plan for Government staff on the solution. This will effectively advance the proficiency of the IT people at CIG to ensure self-reliance, resilience and continued digitisation of the nation’s systems and processes.
After the completion of works on Rarotonga the OPM ITC Office will look to upgrade the Government ITC services on Aitutaki and the Pa Enua.
According to Hunter,
“The problem with this type of infrastructure is you can’t see it, but when it fails, everybody knows. For any digitisation project, you need robust network infrastructure. You need a stable and upgraded network to integrate or implement other applications, and you need to trust the assurance that your network will continue to operate as you need it to. We see so many benefits going forward from this project. From the smooth running of everyday operations to the ability to advance other modernisation projects. This is a game changer for us.”
Caption for photo: A new server being installed into the Cabinet rack by OPM ITC staff members L-R: Wally Wuatai, George Ellis (Jnr), Samantha Tepai.
Reference: Office of the Prime Minister
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