CCL And Spark Appointed Multi-cloud Managed Service Partner And Managed Security Partner For Christchurch City Council

CCL, the hybrid cloud specialist for Spark Business Group, has been appointed the multi-cloud managed service partner for Christchurch City Council’s modern operating environment to provide a broad suite of hybrid and multi-cloud capabilities.

A modern, cloud-first partnership

CCL has partnered with Christchurch City Council on their technology modernisation journey since 2010. When the council were looking to take the next step on their digital transformation journey, CCL proposed a cloud-first approach, which encompasses a broad range of platforms, spanning on-premise, CCL’s private cloud, hybrid cloud and public cloud offerings from AWS and Microsoft Azure. The hybrid solution aims to provide flexibility without complexity, improve operational efficiencies, and enables Christchurch City Council to deliver innovative and sector-leading services to its citizens.

Christchurch City Council’s Chief Information Officer Symon McHerron says, “Our partnership with CCL and Spark provides the opportunity to create a modern operating environment which supports realising the Council’s digital vision and strategy. We have a focus on the citizen where we build trust and engagement, enhance the quality of life, support the growth of business, and strengthen resilience. Our modern operating environment will be built using secure modern cloud technologies, based on modern architecture, and provides the foundations for driving greater and quicker innovations.”

CCL CEO Richard Adams says, “We are thrilled to extend our partnership with Christchurch City Council for the next step in their cloud transformation journey. Implementing a high-quality and cost-effective modern operating environment will help Christchurch City Council take control of its platforms and how they are managed. The solution is based on best-of-breed technologies spanning on-premise, private and public cloud. This will help provide the council with a foundation which can be used to evolve existing services, and build new services, on behalf of the Christchurch constituency.

“Research shows that 58 per cent of New Zealand businesses indicate hybrid cloud is their preferred platform and delivery model. This highlights that there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to cloud adoption, with organisations embracing public, private, and hybrid cloud deployments. We look forward to strengthening our partnership with Christchurch City Council and helping them realise their vision for their modern operating environment.”

Partnering with New Zealand’s largest cyber security team 

Alongside CCL’s hybrid cloud appointment, Spark has been appointed the managed security provider for Christchurch City Council for the provision of Spark’s Managed Detection and Response for Microsoft Sentinel (MDR) and Security Operations Centre (SOC) services operating 24/7 to support the council's cyber security strategy as they continue to grow their CSIRT (cybersecurity incident response team).

The Spark SOC is the largest in New Zealand with more than 180 security professionals, consultants and architects. Spark’s MDR for Sentinel service has more than 45 highly skilled security professionals dedicated to security detection and response - including proactive threat hunting, where Spark’s security experts proactively search for emerging threats, indicators of compromise and potential malicious activities that might have been missed by existing security tools and controls leveraging industry adopted frameworks.

Spark’s Managed Security Service Practice Lead Patric Balmer says, “Our managed security services provides ongoing access to the latest intelligence and expertise, while maintaining top-level compliance with security best practice. Spark will provide a ‘single pane of glass’ view for Christchurch City Council’s security operations to help maintain and monitor their entire environment including private cloud, public cloud and the various systems and applications running on them.

“Many of our customers don’t have full-scale in-house security teams so Spark augments their internal teams, providing enterprise-level skill sets, solutions and protections and delivering unrivalled advance visibility of emerging threats through our global threat intelligence platform. We ensure this information is available to all customers as part of our service.”

Appointing the Spark Business Group across these two major managed service contracts will allow the Council to benefit from a streamlined and effective "one-supplier" operating model and to leverage the strong capability of Spark Business Group expertise and services across cloud transformation, cyber security and emerging technologies.

Notes to editor:

• CCL published the State of New Zealand Cloud Transformation report in FY22, which surveyed more than 400 of New Zealand’s technology decision-makers and business leaders on their approaches to cloud adoption and transformation. 
   
• Along with CERT NZ, Spark is the only other New Zealand member of the FIRST group, a global cyber intelligence forum that provides timely information on threats and assistance in threat resolution. Currently FIRST has more than 600 members across Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania. 
   
• The GCSB National Cyber Security Centre’s "cyber threat disruption feed" called the Malware Free Networks (MFN) feed is now offered to 11 partners, including Spark. The MFN feed aims to detect and undermine cyber threats on customers' networks.

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