Over the last year, Link Digital has spread its reach to better service both Sydney and Perth. In January, we landed in Auckland to seed a new team of open data and cloud hosting specialists.

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Over our entire 15-year history headquartered in Canberra, Australia, Link Digital has
specialised in the provision of digital services to Government clients. In the last four years, we have deepened our expertise in

  • Cloud architecture and managed services,
  • Drupal web experience design and development; and
  • Open Data platforms based on CKAN.

As one of the few digital agencies worldwide with such a specific skillset we’re now being asked to collaborate on projects in multiple timezones. With staff now located in Kharkov (GMT +2), Perth (GMT +8), Canberra and Sydney (GMT +10) and Auckland (GMT +12) we can ‘follow the sun’ to be available when needed.

Our entry into New Zealand, however, is a significant step. New Zealand is a member of the Digital 5, which includes UK, Estonia, Israel and South Korea. We’re following their leadership with the aim of supporting New Zealand’s digital economy with open data.

The Digital 5, or D5, is a network of leading digital governments with the goal of strengthening the digital economy. The members are bonded by the principle of openness; they are focused on changing government’s relationship with technology by adopting open standards and open-source software as well as making digital government more effective. They intend to bring in digital skills in-house and encourage short-term contracts with small and medium business suppliers.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_5

The New Zealand office will specialise in providing an end-to-end service surrounding data publishing on CKAN, including platform establishment, hosting, ongoing support, and maintenance.

“Opening an office in New Zealand is an investment in supporting a country committed to strengthening its digital economy with open Government and open source software. Our contribution is a small addition to the vibrant Open Data community in New Zealand, but by being here we will learn and share a lot of knowledge.”
Steven De Costa, Executive Director, Link Digital.

Shane Davis, Link Digital’s lead architect for Australia and New Zealand will head up operations in Auckland.

Shane is an IT veteran with over 25 years experience in software development and infrastructure management. He led the delivery commitments made at the Whitehouse Roundtable in June 2016 and continues to work on high level architecture improvements for our open data systems.
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