Luke Clifton (Macquarie Telecom)
Macquarie Telecom has been enlisted by Civic Disability Services to provide communication services to support both its workers and clients.
Throughout the project, which lasted from March 2020 to October 2020, Macquarie brought in National Broadband Network (NBN) connections, SD-WAN technology and mobile services to the Caringbah NSW-headquartered provider, which in turn has been used to increase its uptake of assistive technology (AT).
This includes safety-related sensors, building access technology, climate control and technology to help individual clients with independent living.
ARN understands that the introduction of SD-WAN is new to the provider, but internet and mobile services were previously provided by Telstra.
“If a client gets up in the middle of the night, ambient lighting is automatically activated to guide them,” Civic Disability Services CIO Celsus Joseph said.
“It’s actually quite a simple innovation, but it can make a world of difference for our clients, and Macquarie has given us a rock-solid technology backbone to make it all work together.”
Credit: Civic Disability Services AT can then be tracked, which can provide examples of specific kinds of support required from the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
“It can often be hard to quantify the benefits or the need for certain funding. Being able to show how that data identifies and solves day-to-day challenges will be so important in highlighting the value clients are getting and will justify the support they need,” Joseph said.
Meanwhile, its SD-WAN deployment is to prioritise services on the network, giving preference to voice and video communication over Netflix and YouTube to ensure clients can still socialise with others while adhering to COVID-19 restrictions.
Also powering client socalisation is the provider’s online platform, Civic@Home, via iPads, which is sustained through 4G SIMs and NBN connectivity provided by Macquarie.
In addition, these connectivity services have also been brought in as a means of avoiding costs to tier-one carriers, with Macquarie claiming that such a connection, if it were hypothetically under a contract to a whole apartment block by such a carrier, could cost up to $16,000, with an additional $1,000 per month service fee.
“Civic is setting a high bar for delivering better outcomes and living arrangements to people in Australia with a disability,” said Luke Clifton, Group executive at Macquarie Telecom.
“With the right assistive living technology and network backbone in place, providers can enable more independent living and move away from outdated processes.
“Think about an alarm going off to alert an entire home and multiple staff; now that can be a targeted alert created only when needed and sent straight to the appropriate caregiver.
“This can greatly improve the staff experience too, and ensure they’re freed up to do what they do best,” he added.
The announcement of its work with Civic comes off a busy month for Macquarie Group at large, with Macquarie Telecom flagging its intentions to build a new data centre, dubbed IC3 Super West, in July.
Its Government subsidiary also announced a partnership with CSO Group on a $7 million deal with the NSW Department of Communities and Justice that same month.
Meanwhile, Macquarie Cloud Services claimed to have achieved the Azure-only Expert MSP (managed service provider) credential, the new recognition reflecting the growth of the local provider’s Azure practice.
