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Red Hat has named Auckland Transport, the Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) and Westpac New Zealand as the winners of its APAC Innovation Awards 2026 for Australia and New Zealand.
The three organisations were recognised for their use of open source technologies across transport operations, defence research and banking infrastructure. They sit among 32 winners selected across 13 countries in the Asia Pacific region.
The awards span six categories: Digital Transformation, Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure, Cloud-Native Development, Automation, Virtualisation and AI.
Red Hat’s Vice President and General Manager for APAC, Daniel Aw, framed the awards around practical outcomes rather than the volume of technology adoption.
“Enterprise technology is becoming more complex than ever, but success is no longer about how many new technologies an organisation adopts. What matters more is how effectively these solutions work together to address real business challenges and deliver tangible value,” Aw remarked.
“This year’s winners demonstrate that the organisations best positioned for long-term success are those building open, flexible foundations that allow them to innovate on their own terms.”
Auckland Transport builds in-house computer vision platform
Auckland Transport won in the Cloud-Native Development and Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure categories for the development of an in-house computer vision platform called “Theia.”
The organisation oversees Auckland’s transport network, including the local road network, public transport planning and funding, cycling infrastructure and parking operations.
Before deploying computer vision, monitoring the organisation’s thousands of CCTV camera feeds was a largely manual and reactive process. The footage provided limited real-time intelligence and little actionable data for improving traffic operations or planning future transport investment.
Auckland Transport moved away from third-party legacy systems to a cloud-native approach using Red Hat OpenShift Platform Plus, building the Theia platform to monitor its CCTV camera network with automated detection and analysis capabilities.
The implementation has enabled real-time traffic monitoring and incident detection across the Auckland network. Those capabilities have since extended across the organisation’s rail, ferry and parking divisions.
Auckland Transport’s Delivery Manager for Computer Vision, Dr Derek Zhang, outlined the rationale behind the technology choices.
“Working with Red Hat has given us the flexibility to grow our computer vision capabilities as Auckland’s transport needs evolve,” Dr Zhang explained. “By building on open technologies, we can continue exploring new ways to make journeys safer, more efficient and more reliable for Aucklanders.”
Defence cuts secure environment build time from 14 weeks to two
The Defence Science and Technology Group, part of the Australian Government’s Department of Defence, won in the Virtualisation and Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure categories.
DSTG brings together interdisciplinary expertise to address defence and national security challenges, working closely with the Australian science, technology and innovation ecosystem to deliver scientific advice and solutions for the defence and national security community.
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The project centred on a bi-annual strategic code collaboration exercise conducted by the Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance member nations. DSTG’s Cyber Integration team needed to rapidly establish a secure environment where researchers from across the alliance could collaborate, test and deploy new technologies while supporting both traditional and modern workloads.
Using Red Hat OpenShift, DSTG established a secure platform supporting virtual machines, containers and future AI initiatives within its defence-accredited environment.
The results were substantial. The time required to build the research environment dropped from 14 weeks to two. The number of research sprints completed per hackathon cycle doubled from six to 12.
The platform has since become a blueprint for similar collaboration environments within DSTG, providing the organisation with a flexible hybrid cloud foundation for future research and sovereign capability development.
DSTG’s Group Leader for Cyber Integration, Shane Bennett, pointed to the balance between security requirements and the need for rapid collaboration.
“In defence research, the ability to collaborate and experiment quickly is critical,” Bennett observed. “Working with Red Hat enabled us to create a secure environment that supports both innovation and the stringent requirements of the industry.”
“Red Hat has helped us bring those priorities together, giving our researchers a strong foundation to collaborate, experiment and develop sovereign capabilities.”
Westpac NZ insources infrastructure to cut vendor dependence
Westpac New Zealand won in the Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure and Automation categories for its “Core Infrastructure Initiative,” which saw the bank insource and modernise its core application platform.
The bank provides services to more than 1.5 million customers across retail, agribusiness, corporate and institutional banking. It was facing growing operational complexity and needed to strengthen the resilience of its technology infrastructure while reducing the manual effort involved in managing its systems.
Westpac New Zealand standardised on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Red Hat OpenShift, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform and Red Hat Satellite to establish a modern hybrid cloud foundation and automate key infrastructure processes.
The initiative was driven in part by the need to mitigate regulatory risks, reduce vendor dependence and overcome scaling constraints associated with the bank’s previous community-supported infrastructure.
The shift to an enterprise-supported technology stack improved security through the decommissioning of obsolete nodes and increased operational efficiency through the automation of critical lifecycle processes including patching and provisioning.
Westpac New Zealand’s Head of Infrastructure Services and Digital Workplace, Garry Daniels, described the project as an opportunity to redirect engineering effort toward higher-value work.
“Taking greater ownership of our technology has given us the opportunity to simplify how we operate and create a scalable foundation for innovation,” Daniels remarked.
“With Red Hat’s solutions, we have reduced manual effort and established a resilient, automated platform that enables us to accelerate the delivery of new capabilities at scale. As a result, our engineering teams can focus more of their time on driving meaningful improvements and delivering better outcomes for our customers.”
Open source as a response to growing complexity
The awards reflect a broader trend across the Asia Pacific region, where organisations are increasingly turning to open source platforms as they navigate the complexity of managing AI strategies, hybrid cloud environments and automation at scale.
With AI strategies spanning different models, accelerators and cloud environments, the flexibility offered by open source platforms is becoming a more prominent consideration for enterprises looking to avoid lock-in to individual vendors or technology stacks.
Aw argued that the approach taken by this year’s winners illustrates how technology decisions should be driven by business requirements rather than technology trends.
“Their achievements are a testament to what organisations can accomplish when technology decisions are guided by business needs rather than trends, and it is this approach that we are proud to celebrate through the Red Hat APAC Innovation Awards,” he added.
The three ANZ winners were selected alongside 29 other organisations across the region, with all 32 winners recognised for delivering measurable outcomes through their use of Red Hat’s open source platforms.
Last Updated on September 1, 2026 by Nick Ross
