Case Studies
Midcoast Council – IT Transformation
Client:
Midcoast Council
Industry:
Local Government
Services Rendered:
Design & Implementation (Security, Data Centre & Networking)
About Midcoast Council
Discover the remarkable IT Transformation and journey to Zero Trust Security and Essential 8 compliance of MidCoast Council. This pioneering project facilitated the successful merger of three Councils and a Water Authority, streamlining their operations for enhanced efficiency.
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The Challenge
- Fragmented IT Infrastructure
- Security Gaps
- Performance Bottlenecks
MidCoast Council, formed through the merger of three councils and a water authority, faced significant IT infrastructure challenges. With over 80 sites and 1,200 staff, their network, security, and data centre infrastructure were fragmented, creating inefficiencies, security gaps, and performance bottlenecks. The existing environment was a mix of different topologies, complicating management and limiting scalability.
The Council needed a unified, high-availability enterprise network to support a new headquarters, future-proof their IT infrastructure, and meet ACSC Essential 8 compliance. Additionally, a seamless disaster recovery solution was required to ensure business continuity. S5 Technology Group was engaged to design and implement a modern, secure, and scalable IT environment that would support Council’s longterm objectives.
The Solution
S5 Technology Group delivered a fully integrated enterprise network, security, and data centre solution for MidCoast Council. The network was built on a Cisco-based dual-vendor architecture, incorporating Catalyst switching, ISR border routers, and Cisco DNA for visibility, assurance and management. A high-availability WAN was deployed with multihomed internet connectivity, leveraging BGP and dark fibre to achieve redundancy.
Our Approach
For security, Check Point Quantum firewalls were implemented at critical locations, including edge, corporate, and SCADA infrastructure, ensuring comprehensive protection. The project also marked Australia’s first deployment of Check Point’s Infinity Total Protection Enterprise License Agreement, providing flexible, subscription-based security.
S5 designed and implemented an active/active vSphere Metro Cluster across two data centres, using Cisco UCS Compute and Pure Storage ActiveCluster synchronous replication. This ensured that workloads could seamlessly fail over without downtime. Veeam Backup & Replication was integrated to protect both core data centres and remote sites.
The deployment was executed in multiple phases, minimising disruption while ensuring Council’s IT environment remained fully operational. Additionally, a rapid shift to remote work was enabled during COVID-19 using machine certificate-based IPsec VPNs, securing remote access without increasing administrative complexity.
The Outcome
- High-Performance, Redundant ITInfrastructure
- Enhanced Security & Compliance
- Optimised Remote Work & Cost Savings
MidCoast Council now operates a highperformance, secure, and resilient IT environment. The upgraded WAN and data centre infrastructure eliminated performance bottlenecks, improving connectivity across 80+ sites with symmetrical fibre speeds of up to 100 Gbps. Disaster recovery capabilities were significantly enhanced with the vSphere Metro Cluster, enabling seamless failover without data loss or complicated disaster recovery procedures.
Security posture improved with Check Point’s Infinity Total Protection model, ensuring comprehensive, scalable protection while reducing procurement complexity. The Council achieved major cost savings by consolidating licensing and eliminating legacy inefficiencies. The new infrastructure enabled 1,200 staff to transition smoothly to remote work during COVID-19 with a secure, always-on VPN solution. MidCoast Council is now positioned as a leader in local government technology, with a future-proofed, scalable IT environment.
