RBA Taps NTT for New IT Infrastructure Design and Implementation

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has taken a significant step forward in its three-year CoreMod program by moving into the design and implementation phase, marking a critical juncture in the overhaul of its IT infrastructure. As part of this phase, RBA has appointed NTT Australia to assemble the new infrastructure, with the contract valued at $12.7 million, running through to October 2025. This collaboration is central to RBA’s plan to modernize its IT operations and enhance the resilience and security of its infrastructure.

The CoreMod program, first unveiled at the end of last year, is an ambitious initiative designed to establish a new head office data center within a CDC facility, featuring state-of-the-art IT infrastructure. The program also includes the migration of critical workloads to this new setup, with the entire initiative expected to run until mid-to-late 2027.

Janet Mengel, the CoreMod program director, emphasized the importance of this phase, describing it as essential for creating a future-ready, modern, resilient, and secure infrastructure platform. Mengel highlighted that partnering with a reliable vendor like NTT Australia for the design and implementation activities is crucial for ensuring that the migration of nationally critical applications to the new infrastructure is handled smoothly. This step, she noted, is vital to the RBA's ongoing commitment to maintaining a robust, safe, and efficient payments system for Australians.

The RBA has made several infrastructure-related procurements this year as part of the CoreMod program, with contractual terms extending through to 2029. Notably, three of these procurements, totaling approximately $83.6 million, involve NTT Australia and include two contracts for Cisco hardware and software and a third for F5 load balancers. In addition, the RBA has entered into a $13.6 million managed services agreement with Hitachi Vantara Australia.

Looking ahead, the RBA has outlined a detailed timeline for the next stages of the CoreMod program. Alongside the ongoing design and implementation phase through 2025, the bank will seek external support for workload migration to the new infrastructure and the deployment of an observability tool for the new environment. These activities are scheduled to commence in 2026, followed by the migration of business applications and the full deployment of the observability tool. The final phase, set for 2027, will involve the decommissioning of the current head office data center, completing the transition to the new infrastructure.

As part of this extensive overhaul, the RBA is also renovating its head office in Sydney’s Martin Place, further demonstrating its commitment to modernizing its operations to better serve the Australian public. The successful execution of the CoreMod program is anticipated to place the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) at the cutting edge of financial technology infrastructure. By modernizing its IT systems and facilities, the RBA aims to address the growing demands of the financial sector while upholding the highest standards of security and operational efficiency. This comprehensive overhaul will enable the bank to better support the national payments system, enhance its resilience against potential disruptions, and provide robust, future-proof infrastructure to meet both current and future financial challenges.