CASE STUDY
Sugar Research Australia Fuels Research with Cloud Computing
OVERVIEW
Sugar Research Australia (SRA) conducts cutting‑edge research to improve sugarcane performance, including plant breeding, soil health, and nitrite utilisation reduction, work that directly supports growers and millers while contributing to environmental outcomes such as reducing fertiliser wash off into the Great Barrier Reef.
Despite its critical role in the industry, SRA’s ageing on‑premises infrastructure limited its ability to deliver timely and effective research outcomes. The organisation recognised that simply replacing its existing systems like for like would not address the capability gaps required to support modern research workloads.
CHALLENGES
SRA’s research teams rely heavily on high‑performance computing to run intensive analysis workloads.
The existing infrastructure could not scale to meet these demands, and researchers often required expensive machines for months at a time, even though these resources were not needed continuously.
The organisation needed a solution that could deliver burst capacity on demand, support variable workloads, and avoid the cost inefficiencies of maintaining large compute resources year round.
“We had some very specific requirements to be met; a big one was high‑performance compute.”
Adam O’Halloran, Chief Information Officer, Sugar Research Australia
SOLUTIONS
CloudLift Assessment and Azure Migration
SRA partnered with Codify, a Microsoft Gold Cloud Platform Partner, to explore migrating its infrastructure to Azure.
Using Codify’s CloudLift process, both teams worked together to identify SRA’s existing environment, demonstrate how it would operate in Azure, and clarify how operational costs would be determined.
Codify’s assessment highlighted the need for high performance compute and variable burst capacity. Their Managed Azure offering provided a cost effective way to meet these requirements by ingesting real‑time consumption records and comparing usage against predefined budgets.
“We ingest in realtime all of the consumption records for customers in Azure… As soon as there’s an exception, that goes straight to our service desk and is actioned by a person.”
David Connors, Managing Director, Codify
Plan, Migrate, Run Methodology
Codify applied its “Plan, Migrate, Run” methodology, beginning with CloudLift and ending with Managed Azure, to simplify SRA’s cloud transition.
“Once we had the process to migrate into the cloud, the actual execution of that activity was pretty quick and pretty painless actually.”
Adam O’Halloran, CIO, Sugar Research Australia
RESULTS
SRA’s migration to Azure delivered significant improvements in flexibility, cost efficiency, and research capability.
On‑demand High Performance Compute
Researchers can now access effectively unlimited compute capacity when needed, and stop paying for it when they’re done.
“They get everything they need, and at the same time, it’s very cost effective.”
Adam O’Halloran, CIO, Sugar Research Australia
Cost‑Effective Burst Capacity
Azure’s elasticity allows SRA to scale compute resources up or down instantly, supporting intensive research workloads without maintaining expensive hardware.
A Long‑Term Partnership
SRA has continued to benefit from Codify’s ongoing support, including updates on new Microsoft features and opportunities to improve efficiency.
“We’ve been able to move beyond the scope of the project into more of a partnership… Codify has continued to support us.”
Adam O’Halloran, CIO, Sugar Research Australia
Strategic Guidance
SRA emphasised the importance of working with a partner who understands both immediate needs and future challenges.
“What you’re looking for in a partner isn’t just conducting the scope of work… Codify are very good at understanding both your short‑term aspirations and the greater context around them.”
Adam O’Halloran, CIO, Sugar Research Australia