Interactive, Port Phillip Partner to Future-Proof Community Services
▼ Summary
– Interactive migrated the City of Port Phillip’s legacy IT systems from a heritage-listed building to a secure, scalable cloud environment to address infrastructure limitations and risks.
– The council faced significant service disruption risks due to outdated on-premises infrastructure in a 100-year-old building, with hundreds of community services dependent on always-on systems.
– A two-phased migration strategy was executed over weekends within three months, ensuring no interruption to public services and including rapid troubleshooting for issues like network switch failures.
– Post-migration upgrades improved resilience and security, featuring disaster recovery enhancements, managed storage services, and 24/7 monitoring, leading to fewer outages and faster system performance.
– The partnership established a collaborative success, enabling the council to focus on long-term strategic initiatives like multi-cloud adoption and AI-driven service improvements.
A major digital transformation initiative has successfully future-proofed essential community services for the City of Port Phillip, following a strategic partnership with IT service provider Interactive. The project involved migrating the council’s aging legacy systems from a heritage-listed building to a secure, scalable cloud environment, overcoming significant infrastructure limitations and ensuring uninterrupted public service delivery.
Located within the historic St Kilda Town Hall, the City of Port Phillip confronted considerable obstacles in maintaining modern IT infrastructure inside a century-old structure. With hundreds of vital community programs relying on continuously available systems, even brief technical failures posed a serious risk of widespread service disruption. When a critical environmental hazard was identified near mission-critical server racks, council IT leaders recognized an immediate need for system modernization.
Structural modifications to the heritage site were not feasible, amplifying the urgency for a robust technological solution. Interactive responded with a carefully designed two-phase migration strategy, prioritizing both speed and operational stability. Within a three-month timeframe, the council’s systems were transferred to a secure colocation facility, with all migration work scheduled over weekends to prevent any interruption to public-facing services.
Throughout the process, Interactive provided hands-on troubleshooting and rapid response support. When a core network switch failed late one evening during the transition, the team sourced, configured, and activated a replacement within hours, preserving critical business continuity. This responsiveness ensured that essential operations—including more than 100 community services—remained fully functional.
Post-migration, Interactive supported key infrastructure enhancements to improve system resilience and scalability. Upgrades included strengthened disaster recovery services, deployment of NetApp Keystone storage with fully managed support, and implementation of continuous monitoring and incident response protocols. These improvements led to a dramatic reduction in major outages, with staff reporting noticeably faster application performance and more responsive systems.
Security was also substantially improved through the removal of end-of-life hardware and the implementation of advanced firewall protections. David Forrest, Account Executive at Interactive, praised the council’s proactive approach, noting that the initiative serves as a model for how local governments can pursue digital transformation under demanding conditions.
“The City of Port Phillip demonstrated real leadership,” Forrest stated. “Despite complexity and constraints, they made decisive choices that prioritized both service continuity and long-term operational resilience. We are proud to have collaborated on this journey.”
The partnership established a trusted, collaborative relationship between Interactive and the council. What began as a high-pressure infrastructure challenge evolved into a shared success story, built on transparency, responsiveness, and mutual respect. With core systems now operating more efficiently and securely, internal council teams can focus on strategic long-term projects, including multi-cloud adoption and AI-driven service enhancements.
Interactive’s managed private cloud solution has delivered enhanced security, operational stability, and scalability, ensuring the City of Port Phillip can continue providing high-quality digital services to its community well into the future.
(Source: ITWire Australia)