Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, has signed a landmark three-year, $A1.4 million deal with the Citadel Group to deploy records management in the cloud using its Software as a Service (Saas) platform Citadel IX.

The decision by CSIRO to move from an on-premise model came after Citadel also won an earlier deal worth almost $A600, 000 to upgrade more than 25,000 user licenses of Micro Focus Records manager (RM) 8. The agency had been considering upgrading to a hybrid model but issued the cloud tender after becoming convinced that a SaaS solution could be the answer.

As an early adopter of cloud-based solutions and an organisation very familiar with technology, the CSIRO needed to collaborate securely with both internal and external stakeholders in the cloud.

“The real benefit with Citadel IX is CSIRO can outsource the secure data storage and pro-active monitoring of our information management solution as a fully managed service that it will continuously evolve to respond to the increasingly sophisticated cyber threats,” said Stewart Hollingdrake, Public Sector Lead at The Citadel Group.

Citadel IX will go live throughout the agency and will enable Australia’s top scientists to continue their important research projects with minimal to zero downtime and maximum collaboration, enabling the vast number of research hubs to work together remotely.

With staff and researchers located throughout Australia and around the world, cyber and information security is a mission-critical priority for the agency.

With ransomware attacks on the rise due to COVID-19, cyber intrusions on government systems, critical infrastructure and other information networks are a real and increasing threat to Australia’s national interests. The CSIRO recognises that cyber technologies and cybersecurity are essential to an advanced, safe and secure Australia.

In addition to upgrading its record-keeping platform from RM8, CSIRO is undertaking a Proof of Concept (POC) trial of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology from Canberra’s CastlePoint Systems to classify and control information across the agency.

Castlepoint Systems recently raised $A3 million in funding led by the CSIRO’s deep tech investment fund, Main Sequence Ventures.

“This agreement stands as an outstanding endorsement of the superior quality of the Citadel IX platform,” says Mark McConnell, Citadel’s Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director.