Request for Information (RFI) For Application/Container Platforms Virtualisation Platforms

Description

Container/Application platform Revenue will require a platform to support a requirement for a new application stack. It is likely that this stack will need to be capable of being deployed on prem, and in public cloud, and further it is likely that some ability to move Container workloads between on prem and public cloud platforms will be required in a hybrid cloud model. Given this requirement, and the general industry trends, it can be assumed that this platform will be Kubernetes based. Virtualisation Platform Revenue continues to have a requirement for a standard virtualisation platform to host and manage VMs for a wide variety of use cases. At present Vmware provides this, with KVM used for some mission critical workloads in conjunction with Fibre Channel SAN storage and Veritas Infoscale. Revenue’s Vmware licensing footprint is at present approximately 3700 cores. Future requirements are such that, as with our Gen4 application stack, Revenue will require an approach for deployment of VMs both on prem and in public cloud, with an ability to easily move workloads between both platforms needed. Operational and Security matters Availability requirements for the Revenue ICT systems, including 24/7 Customs and Trade Facilitation systems are very high. The service and security risks involved in time taken to patch security vulnerabilities or perform upgrades continue to increase. As a result, Revenue is deeply interested in solutions that will allow for faster, more consolidated patching of systems including firmware/hypervisor/operating systems etc in potential future Container/Application and Virtualisation Platforms.