The GAA has awarded a contract to manage its server infrastructure, support its ticketing system and provide other IT services to Datapac. The value of the deal has not been disclosed.
As part of the agreement, Datapac will manage the association’s entire server infrastructure at Croke Park, encompassing a robust business continuity plan for critical applications that includes 24×7 monitoring of servers and applications at headquarters.
The services provider has also installed new hardware and software to support the GAA’s ticketing solution in all 32 counties.
The contract also includes scope for Datapac to play a role in supporting the association’s strategic IT policy to improve delivery and management of IT services at national, provincial and county levels.
A team of Datapac staff will carry out remote audits and will monitor the GAA’s network, servers and PCs to ensure applications are running at optimum levels, allowing the sporting body to improve the delivery of a wide range of services.
In recent years, the GAA has substantially updated its IT systems, as well as overhauling its popular website. In 2010, it announced it had moved all of its members’ emails, documents and calendaring to Google Apps, making it one of the earliest adopters of cloud computing on such a broad scale. Interestingly, the statement announcing the Datapac agreement said the GAA “is now also looking at the possibility of moving further services and applications into ‘the cloud’, with Microsoft Dynamics.”
Photo: David Kirby, general manager, Datapac; and Declan Fanning, head of IT, GAA
