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Open source solutions provider Red Hat today named Spark NZ as one of three winners in its 2024 innovation awards for the A/NZ region.
A long-time Red Hat user, Spark collected the trophy for hybrid cloud infrastructure and automation.
Spark wanted to use its Red Hat systems in a more sophisticated and centralised manner while also servicing the needs of existing generations of network functions.
Nilay Rathod, technology automation and services lead at Spark, said the team embarked on the project with the aim of automating everything “without compromises” and creating a platform of the future.
Working with Red Hat enabled Spark to achieve faster, more coordinated and reliable deployments, improving operational costs and efficiency.
The solutions also improved security and compliance while modernising applications, reducing risk in cost of outages and brand damage for both Spark and its customers.
“As a longtime customer of Red Hat, we wanted to continue this partnership by taking it to another level: to challenge the way technology is used to bring more benefits to our customers,” Rathod said.
The innovation awards celebrate customers who harnessed the power of open source technologies to drive transformation and innovation. Customers were recognised for demonstrating how enterprises could overcome the dual challenge of managing escalating infrastructure costs alongside evolving business demands.
National Australia Bank won a digital transformation and automation gong alongside SA Power Networks.
NAB’s journey with Red Hat evolved through several key phases such as platform security, Linux patching, and disaster recovery automation. Now, the bank is fully optimising operations after having successfully onboarded multiple teams, including database, digital forensics and cyber security.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat Ansible automation platform allowed NAB to address resource constraints by efficiently managing an extensive inventory of thousands of devices without increasing headcount and compromising performance.
The integration also enabled NAB to consolidate various systems and processes into a unified automation framework, contributing to millions of dollars in cost savings annually.
Jason Cooper, manager of network application network security and automation, said NAB used the Red Hat Ansible automation platform to simplify its environment, allowing the bank to reduce manual operational tasks and improve compliance and security remediation timeframes.
“We started working with Red Hat in 2018, drawn to the opportunity to adopt automation practices in-house with their support,” he said. “Ansible has delivered with the flexibility and power we needed to enhance overall efficiency.”
SA Power Networks, South Australia’s sole electricity distributor, was looking for new and innovative ways to streamline repetitive tasks and reduce after-hours patching work. However, a bespoke cloud configuration tool was adding unnecessary complexity to infrastructure builds and deployment and a lack of automation and standard tooling prevented improved ways of working across the IT department.
Working with Red Hat partner Advent One, SA Power Networks deployed the Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform to build, configure, and orchestrate patching its Linux and Windows environments. It is also trialling Microsoft Azure Red Hat OpenShift to increase container management capabilities for new projects.
The company is saving one hundred hours a month on repetitive tasks and reaping positive flow-on benefits across the IT department. These included standardised infrastructure and reduced manual patching, removing human error and increasing traceability.
Phil Manning, infrastructure design manager at SA Power Networks said a key goal was freeing up people’s time to work on what truly mattered.
“Using open-source solutions, as opposed to bespoke or proprietary solutions, has also encouraged a culture of open sharing among our teams,” he said.
“Thanks to Advent One and Red Hat, we’re thrilled to have extracted more benefits than we envisaged from this project.”
Marjet Andriesse, senior vice president and general manager of APJ and China at Red Hat said despite uncertain economic conditions, customers had achieved remarkable milestones.
“Open source remains the key to help organisations uncover what is next and pave the way for success with the right tools and expertise,” Andriesse said.