Published on the 29/10/2014 | Written by Newsdesk
Microsoft has switched on its Australian cloud, operated out of data centres in Sydney and Melbourne, announced Equinex and Telstra as express network partners, along with a cloud marketplace…
After a lengthy gestation period Microsoft has delivered a local instance of its Azure platform-as-a-service and infrastructure-as-a-service cloud, tackling data sovereignty issues for many clients and prospects. The company joins a host of other cloud companies which have established Australian sites including Amazon Web Services, Rackspace, Macquarie Telecom, Dimension Data, IBM and Fujitsu.
The company has not said how much it has invested in the data centres, only referencing its international $US4.5 billion investment in global data centres over the last 12 months, nor has it disclosed their actual location or confirmed that NextDC runs the physical data centre facilities.
Nevertheless the company was able to posse up an impressive list of early users of the facilities including the Commonwealth Bank, accounting firm BDO, Carsales.com and iCareHealth and confirm that it has secured IRAP (Industry Security Registered Assessors Program) compliance considered essential in order to woo government clients.
Microsoft has also inked agreements with Equinex and Telstra which will supply express network support to facilitate secure and fast connection to the Azure cloud. And this week the company launches the Azure Marketplace which will provide users with app-store style access to virtual machines, apps and cloud services.
Microsoft’s cloud platform system being developed in association with Dell, will also allow local users or systems providers to essentially create an Azure cloud in their own data centre, allowing a private, or hybrid cloud architecture.
The lure of the cloud was reinforced by users speaking at the Azure launch, which coincided with TechEd, Microsoft’s annual gathering for the developer-faithful, now in its 21st year in Australia. According to David Whiteing, CBA’s CIO: “Cloud allows us to go to a different price point on our services and gives us elasticity,” adding that over time the bank wanted “a much more pay-as-you-go model than we have had traditionally”.
Meanwhile Carsales.com’s CIO Ajay Bhatia said that the company had priced in-house infrastructure needed to support the internet car sales business and that had been a “high seven-figure number”. Azure meant “we are literally dropping a zero” off the cost he said.
Whiteing declined to say what CBA services were now being hosted in the Azure cloud but noted that, for a heavily regulated sector such as banking, having access to local instances of the cloud delivered a massive benefit.
Microsoft managing director Pip Marlow said that the availability of Australia-based clouds was of particular interest to financial services and healthcare organisations which had historically higher levels of risk management. “Bringing this in country …will open doors,” she said.
