At the end of 2012, DUET structured a deal to separate from AMP and Macquarie Group, with the latter having previously providing all back-office assistance and IT support.

“Moving to an independent operating environment, one of the key things we needed to do was establish a strong IT infrastructure,” says Nick Kuys, GM of Operations and Investor Relations for DUET Group.

Choosing a Provider
The DUET Group issued a Request for Proposal for IT services, working closely with Macquarie’s information technology team to identify potential outsourcing candidates. Given Huon IT had successfully assisted the transition of another similar company from the Macquarie Group, Huon IT was one of the first providers that came to mind.

The DUET Group narrowed the field and then market-tested Huon IT against other short-listed potentials. “At the end of the day, Huon IT had a superior product for DUET’s requirements, a management team with extensive knowledge and high level of customer service, and a competitive pricing proposal,” Mr Kuys said. “We wanted an IT solution that was big enough to be reputable, but small enough to assist an on-the-go team. Huon IT was a strong strategic fit for us,” Mr Kuys went on to say.

Huon IT deployed a brand new state-of-the-art IT system with a focus on reliability, performance, and value. In addition, because team members at the DUET Group travel frequently, the ability to remain in communication and access files in communication and access files remotely was an important priority.

The custom solution Huon IT designed consisted of:

• Cisco UCS servers, virtualised with VMware vSphere hypervisor.
• NetApp FAS2220 storage.
• Citrix XenApp for application virtualisation.
• Extra security measures through Safeword tokens for an extra level of security when staff are logging in remotely.
• Worksite document management system.
• AVAYA VoIP system.
• LifeSize video conferencing system.
• All end-user devices, including PCs, laptops, and tablets.

Colocation & Disaster Recovery

One unique aspect of the DUET system is that, due to their small head office staffing contingent, DUET opted not to build and maintain a server room in their office. Instead, Huon IT implemented a “Colocation” solution in Huon IT’s recommended third-party data centre, which offers world-class security, access and power. This allows DUET access to everything they need remotely and provides them peace of mind that they have a dedicated IT infrastructure solution in an incredibly secure location.

According to Mr Kuys, “The remote housing solution Huon IT implemented has been extremely beneficial. We can access it from anywhere globally. We can be in separate hotel rooms, thousands of kilometres apart, and it’s like we’re right next to each other in the office with good processing speeds and access.”

In addition, Huon IT created a customised disaster recovery plan. DUET’s system is replicated to another of Huon IT’s datacentres on the opposite side of Sydney (on a separate power grid) in case the primary site fails. This ensures that DUET will be able to continue to operate under normal business conditions in case of natural disaster, hardware failure, accidental deletion, or even malicious users that may impact its primary offsite location.

“Though we’ve had no disasters to date, we know we’re well-placed to handle most interruption situations should they arise,” Mr Kuys says.

Finally, DUET also chose Huon IT as their day-to-day support partner, which includes 24×7 helpdesk, regular onsite visits, and proactive system monitoring and improvement suggestions.

• An agile, state-of-the-art IT system that saves office space and reduces overall IT costs.
• Consistent applications and computing environment for all staff, regardless of location.
• Readily available disaster recovery.
• Technical support whenever they need it, without the overhead of adding dedicated IT staff.
• Secure access to everything staff need.
• Proactive system monitoring.