Jason Gomersall (Iseek)
Brisbane-based Iseek has forged a partnership with Canberra’s Vault Cloud to provide cloud services with ‘protected’ security clearance.
The cloud, data centre and connectivity provider claimed this will be the first locally hosted cloud in Queensland with the highest clearance to host the most sensitive data.
Iseek said it hopes to serve customers in defence, aviation, banking, mining, healthcare, aged care, as well as state government.
“The pandemic has shifted the focus on what we deem to be critical infrastructure and our data and data systems are now clearly deemed to be critical infrastructure,” Iseek founder and managing director Jason Gomersall said.
“Through our engagement with our government and enterprise customers, we discovered there was a real requirement for protected cloud in the Queensland market. And, more importantly, something that was hosted in Queensland.
According to Gomersall, Queensland organisations have previously needed to source their protected cloud services from providers hosted outside the state.
While Iseek will provide the hosting, Vault Cloud specialises in high-security data services to manage and store classified data.
Powered by Vault, Iseek’s infrastructure will be hosted from its Eagle Farm Campus initially, with future plans to expand to its Townsville data centre.
“The future of protected cloud will be growth,” Vault Cloud chief executive Rupert Taylor-Price said.
“Today, protected cloud is used heavily in government, but as more cyber security events happen other sectors and other industries are starting to look at it as well.
“The impact on the trust of either that business or that part of government or government in total if some incident happens and their systems are compromised can obviously be catastrophic.”
Overseen by the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), the IRAP clearance was recently reformed to allow individual federal agencies to self-certify their solutions.
The move meant cloud service providers (CSPs) no longer need certification from the ACSC and instead need reviews from IRAP every two years.
The Queensland announcement comes over a year after Iseek first gained protected IRAP status, leveraging its North Queensland Regional Data Centre and partnership with state government-owned QCN data backhaul network.
It also comes three months after Amber Infrastructure has bought a majority stake in Iseek.
