Sydney - 20 Jun 2017: IBM (NYSE:IBM) announced today that Acrow, one of Australia’s leading suppliers of scaffolding and formwork for the construction industry, has selected IBM and IT Easy , to implement a total infrastructure refresh built around IBM Cloud, mobile, and network technology. Acrow is responsible for the foundations of some of Australia’s most iconic and ambitious construction projects, from the MCG to the Brisbane Airport Link. The IBM Cloud will provide the levels of scale, agility, and cost-efficiency needed to stay on top of increasingly complex and competitive construction requirements. The IT transformation will also deliver visible benefits to user experience, support levels, and performance within a 2-month timeframe.

 

The solution will see IBM Cloud and IT Easy rapidly replace Acrow’s aged hosted environment with IBM Cloud including pre-integration with VMware software on IBM’s bare-metal servers. Acrow selected IBM Cloud based on a combination of the platform’s superior performance, IBM’s global partnerships with key platform providers VMware and Oracle, and the speed and quality of customer service provided by IT Easy in engineering the solution.

Along with the move to IBM Cloud, IT Easy will refresh Acrow’s mobility strategy with a new device fleet, recontracted voice plans, and the intuitive device management capabilities of MaaS360, IBM’s mobile device management platform. The solution will be supported by a range of IT Easy “as-a-service” offerings including backup, disaster recovery, and desktop management.

“No construction business can afford to wait years before seeing the dividends of their technology investment,” said Joe Cerritelli, General Manager – Human Resources and Safety.  “IT Easy and IBM’s quality of care and expertise during the bidding and planning phase gave us the confidence that we could significantly reduce our IT costs and boost our infrastructural agility in just months, quickly laying the necessary groundwork for even greater growth Australia-wide”. The speed and efficiency that both businesses brought to the table proved especially refreshing for our leadership and IT personnel alike.”

“This solution delivers not just substantial cost savings, but also places Acrow in a strong position from which to streamline its sales and delivery processes Australia-wide,” said Gavin Evans, Managing Director IT Easy. “We believe that IBM Cloud, coupled with our mobility refresh and improved WAN-based network infrastructure, will give Acrow the seamless connectivity and performance that it needs to stay ahead of the construction game as demand continues to intensify.”

IBM Cloud forms the cornerstone of Acrow’s IT transformation, providing both raw performance and seamless compatibility with familiar operating environments from VMware and Oracle, IBM Cloud infrastructure combined with unique cognitive and analytics capabilities allows companies ranging from startups to corporations to innovate with speed, scale and efficiency.

“Digital transformation relies on close collaboration between numerous technology providers and systems to succeed, and it’s been a privilege to work with IT Easy and our other business partners to engineer such a comprehensive step-up for one of Australia’s most well-respected construction companies.” said Anthone Withers, Head of SaaS, IBM Australia and New Zealand.

About Acrow Scaffolding:

Acrow Formwork & Scaffolding Pty Ltd (Acrow) operates in Australia from 12 locations across the country, managing over 50,000 tonnes of formwork and scaffolding equipment as well as maintaining highly experienced in-house engineering, safety and project management professionals.

For more about IBM Cloud, visit: http://www.ibm.com/cloud-computing.