VIVA ENERGY AUSTRALIA LEADS THE WAY WITH AI REVOLUTION & EDGE COMPUTING 

In a breakout session on AI and edge computing held during last week’s Microsoft Ignite 2024, three global firsts were showcased. These are set to have a major impact on industries with dispersed retail stores now that a repeatable solution has been developed.

During the Ignite session it was revealed that Viva Energy Australia has successfully partnered with Lenovo, Microsoft, and LAB³ to create a streamlined, automated build process to minimise the Azure Local (previously known as Azure Stack HCI) build and provisioning process to support the Dynamics Application for Viva Energy that is the core of it’s Retail strategy. 

Amanda Fleming, Chief Digital and Transformation Officer, Viva Energy Australia, joined the panel as a customer guest along with Alan Rabinovich, WW ThinkEdge Business Leader, Lenovo, and Cosmos Darwin, Group PM Manager, Microsoft. 

Amanda highlighted the success of the partnership, saying: 

“The key to our success has been developing a fundamental shared mindset – we call it ‘One Team.’ Our shared absolute focus on ensuring we collectively deliver the desired business outcomes has been remarkable.”  

Viva Energy has undergone a massive transformation in recent months. With the acquisition of Coles Express and OTR, Viva Energy has become the largest convenience and fuel mobility retailer in Australia, with a network of around 1,500 outlets and aiming for 2,000 in the near future. Key challenges for Viva Energy included a ten-fold increase in headcount and the massive task of overhauling technology across 670 stores.  

The One Team partnership played a crucial role in this journey, providing edge computing solutions that ensured operational resilience and faster transaction processing, even in remote locations. 

In the process, three global firsts were achieved:  

1. World first single-node Azure Local deployment at large scale 
2. World first ASHCI 23H2 rollout on 1Gb Ethernet 
3. First large-scale deployment of Azure Local (formally known as ASHCI 23H2) with near hands-free automation 

The Lenovo, Microsoft, and LAB³ solution is repeatable, offering other organisations operating across dispersed sites the capability to future proof their platforms at the edge, with a secure, operationally ready service leveraging automation and HCI. 

Discover More by watching the Breakout Session recording: Imagine the future of edge computing and prepare for the AI revolution