Overview
Uisce Éireann needed to stabilise and modernise its IT infrastructure to reduce risk and improve reliability. emagine delivered a multi-year programme, consolidating platforms, enabling hybrid cloud and introducing governance to support long-term resilience.
The Challenge
Uisce Éireann is responsible for delivering critical water and wastewater services across Ireland, supported by a large and complex IT infrastructure.
This infrastructure underpins essential operational systems, making reliability and stability critical to the organisation’s ability to deliver services effectively.
Over time, the IT landscape had become increasingly fragmented.
Legacy platforms, decentralised data environments and inconsistent provisioning approaches created a complex ecosystem that was difficult to manage and maintain. This fragmentation introduced operational risks and increased the organisation’s exposure to system instability.
Technical debt was another key challenge.
Outdated systems and unsupported platforms required ongoing maintenance, limiting the organisation’s ability to modernise and increasing the likelihood of unplanned outages.
Inconsistent governance further compounded these issues.
Without standardised processes for provisioning, lifecycle management and infrastructure control, it was difficult to ensure consistent performance and maintain visibility across the environment.
As a result, the organisation faced increasing pressure to improve resilience.
System instability and outages could impact critical services, making it essential to strengthen infrastructure reliability and reduce operational risk.
At the same time, Uisce Éireann aimed to align its IT landscape with a cloud-first strategy.
This required a shift towards more scalable, flexible infrastructure models while ensuring that existing systems could be transitioned without disrupting operations.
In summary, the organisation needed a comprehensive infrastructure transformation – one that could stabilise existing systems, reduce technical debt and establish a scalable, well-governed foundation for future digital initiatives.
The Solution
To support Uisce Éireann’s Stability Programme, emagine delivered a coordinated, multi-year infrastructure transformation through a dedicated delivery team:
- 1 programme manager,
- 4 senior project managers
- 1 junior project manager
- X infrastructure engineers,
Phase 1: Modernising legacy infrastructure
The programme began with the identification and replatforming of legacy systems.
Outdated environments were assessed and systematically decommissioned, with modern, scalable architectures introduced to replace them.
This reduced technical debt and improved the overall stability of the infrastructure landscape.
Phase 2: Consolidating fragmented environments
Fragmented infrastructure environments were brought together into a more unified architecture.
This consolidation improved manageability, reduced duplication and simplified the overall technology landscape.
As a result, operations became more efficient and easier to control.
Phase 3: Standardising governance and operations
Standardised build and governance processes were introduced across the infrastructure environment.
This included consistent approaches to virtual machine provisioning, patch management and lifecycle management, ensuring predictable and controlled operations.
These standards improved visibility and reduced variability across systems.
Phase 4: Optimising resilience through hybrid cloud
Hybrid cloud environments were established and optimised using Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
New architectures were designed with high availability and disaster recovery capabilities, ensuring critical systems could continue operating during disruptions.
This created a scalable and resilient foundation aligned with long-term transformation goals.
Transformation timeline
Phase 1
Modernising legacy infrastructure
Phase 2
Consolidating fragmented environments
Phase 3
Standardising governance and operations
Phase 4
Optimising resilience through hybrid cloud
The Results
The Stability Programme delivered significant improvements in infrastructure reliability, scalability and governance across Uisce Éireann.
Increased resilience and service stability
Replacing legacy platforms and introducing high-availability architectures reduced the risk of system failures. This improved the stability of critical services across the organisation.
Greater scalability through hybrid cloud
The introduction of hybrid cloud environments enabled more flexible scaling of infrastructure. This supports future digital initiatives while maintaining compatibility with existing systems.
Reduced technical complexity and debt
Decommissioning outdated systems and consolidating infrastructure simplified the IT landscape. This made systems easier to manage, maintain and evolve over time.
Stronger governance and long-term foundation
Standardised processes improved operational control, consistency and visibility across the infrastructure environment. Together, these changes created a strong foundation for ongoing digital transformation while maintaining the reliability required for critical public services.