AFP boosts private cloud with $20m Dell deal

Australian Federal Police has started upgrading its private cloud capacity in anticipation of future system modernisation projects.

The AFP told iTnews that its current hardware was approaching end-of-life and not fit to underpin its bigger upcoming projects at the agency.

The force said it needed to avoid the risk of end-of-life hardware failures and ensure agency demand for infrastructure services could be met in a timely way.

“This contract will enable other larger ICT projects within the AFP and provide consolidated infrastructure services using economies of scale to meet the operational demands the organisation places on its infrastructure services,” the AFP spokesperson said.

The AFP awarded Dell a $20 million contract to lead the upgrade project late October.

The contract will run until the end of October 2028, but can be extended out to the end of October 2034. 

The AFP expects that the upgrade will be completed some time in 2026.

The law enforcement agency first started moving to private cloud hosting in 2016.

At the time, it moved its primary systems out of data centre out it owned and operated in the ACT’s south to a commercially hosted private cloud in Canberra.

Among the larger technology uplift projects in the pipeline at the AFP is a single platform replacement for its shared national police check system.

It's also switching to a new investigations management solution.