Microsoft partners play critical role in transforming national computing fabric with Microsoft’s Azure Australia Central

We have brought online Azure Australia Central, and thanks to the determined and unwavering support of our partner ecosystem, we are accelerating the opportunity to digitally transform Government and the operations of national critical infrastructure.

This is such an exciting time for Microsoft and our partners because together we can make a real difference by bringing rapid innovation to the computing fabric of our nation.

Reflecting the new business opportunities Azure Australia Central provide, I am excited to announce 47 partners, both local and international, are leveraging the unique characteristics of the platform. These include SAP, Telstra Health, AXON, DXC, Accenture, Dimension Data, Veritas, Citrix, and Leidos. Australian software companies including Intelledox, Gravity, GIS People and Ralleo also build on Azure to serve local customers and enter new markets globally. Open source partners such as RedHat, Cloudera and MapR will also be delivering open source solutions on the Azure Australia Central regions. A more extensive list of partners is included at the end of this blog.

The Federal Government’s recently released Secure Cloud Strategy notes how the move to cloud computing; “can generate a faster pace of delivery, continuous improvement cycles and broad access to services. It can reduce the amount of maintenance effort required to ‘keep the lights on’ and refocus that effort into improving service delivery.”

The strategy signals the need for all Agencies to adopt or plan for cloud.

Working with all of our valued partners we can help accelerate the modernisation of Australia and New Zealand public sector and national critical infrastructure customers to delivering a new era of efficiency and innovation, and smarter services for citizens and businesses.

We’ve created a unique partnership with Canberra Data Centres to build these two new Azure regions to the highest specifications, ensuring high performance, low latency, and unsurpassed security. And, because Canberra Data Centres already provides computing services to a huge array of the public sector’s lead agencies, it means we can work together to offer these organisations the chance to co-locate all of their computing under one, secure data centre roof.

Agencies and national critical industries which work with partners to deploy their own applications and infrastructure within Canberra Data Centres right alongside and connected to Azure via Microsoft ExpressRoute.

Federal Government customers can leverage the Intra Government Communications Network, (ICON) for direct connectivity.

The high availability, exceptional performance, low latency, disaster resilience and opportunity for real time data ingestion that can deliver instant actionable insights that Azure Central promises is unparalleled.

We believe that combination of technical capability coupled with the continually demonstrated ingenuity of our partner network means that entire new classes of efficient applications and trusted services will be able to be created and delivered.

Microsoft now offers Azure from three cities in Australia; Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra – more than any other global cloud provider, ensuring unparalleled resilience.

From an international perspective we have recently announced plans for two new US based Azure Government Secret regions for classified data; the availability of our France Azure regions; and our intention to deliver new regions in Switzerland, Germany and the UAE.

Because access to Azure Central will be tightly controlled and limited to Australian and New Zealand Government users and to approved national critical infrastructure organisations as identified by the Attorney General’s department there is a reduced risk profile for organisations taking their first steps into the cloud.

Azure Australia Central launch partners

Ajilon: The Soze Analytics solution is a police/Intelligence Agency specific interface for the Ajilon Analytics Platform that allows organisations to ingest large quantities of Digital Information used in investigations, rapidly discover objects of interest and the relationships between them, provide further analysis on networks, locations and events, and present these results to Investigators and Analysts.  Types of information include call records, messages, emails, images, videos, mobile phone information, financial records, social media, statements and reports, and core agency system data.

Axon: The Axon Network connects people, devices, and apps to protect life in all regards. From our TASER smart weapons, body worn cameras, public safety app’s and our industry-leading cloud-based evidence management software Evidence.com every product works together as a single network. We are the world’s premier public safety company and are committed to delivering safe, secure solutions for law enforcement, defense, public safety agencies and citizens alike. We are Axon.

Avanade: Avanade is the leading provider of innovative digital and cloud services, business solutions and design-led experiences for its clients, delivered through the power of people and the Microsoft ecosystem.  We are delighted to announce that we have deployed Azure Stack into Canberra Data Centres, in the same physical location to the new Azure Central Regions. The Avanade Azure Stack solution enables customers to deploy workloads to a Hybrid Microsoft cloud, providing a seamless Cloud experience across both public Azure and Azure Stack. This supports workloads that have security requirements above that provided by Public Azure to be deployed to Azure Stack. The key benefits of this Hybrid Azure model are simple deployment and management of applications.

Centium Software: EventsAIR by Centium software is a powerful cloud-based meeting and event management solution for all types of meetings and events. Intuitive to use, EventsAIR features real-time data, analytics, online development tools, travel/hotel management, communication tools, and mobile apps for attendees and organizers. Functions, agendas and project tasks are fully integrated through the innovative run sheet tool. EventsAIR is an end-to-end solution developed by and for event professionals.

Chef: Chef is the leader in Continuous Automation software, an innovator in cloud native operations and one of the founders of the DevOps movement. Chef works with more than a thousand of the most innovative companies around the world to deliver their vision of digital transformation, providing the practices and platform to deliver software at speed. Chef Automate is Chef’s Continuous Automation Platform which is powered by an awesome community and open source software engines: Chef for infrastructure, Habitat for cloud native operations, and InSpec for compliance.

Citrix: Citrix and Microsoft are collaborating in the cloud so that you can move at the speed of business. This strong partnership ensures organizations receive: Best-in-class security, scalability, management and performance of enterprise software and online services; Commitment to industry standards, organizational compliance and new cloud computing trends; Deep integration with Microsoft server and desktop operating systems and management tools and a shared vision for flexible, seamless and powerful computing for today’s mobile workforce.

Citadel: Citadel is an ASX-listed company operating in the technology, health and government sectors. We specialise in managing knowledge in complex environments through integrating know-how, systems and people to provide information securely on an anywhere-anytime-any device basis. Citadel’s work is delivered through trusted advisory services, long-term managed ICT services and software-as-a-service.

Cloudera: Cloudera delivers the modern data management and analytics platform built on Apache Hadoop and the latest open source technologies. The world’s leading organizations trust Cloudera to help solve their most challenging business problems with Cloudera Enterprise, the fastest, easiest and most secure data platform available for the modern world. Our customers efficiently capture, store, process and analyze vast amounts of data, empowering them to use advanced analytics to drive business decisions quickly, flexibly and at lower cost than has been possible before. To ensure our customers are successful, we offer comprehensive support, training and professional services.

Codify: Codify provides a comprehensive assessment of how all of your infrastructure can move to Azure. We map the nuts and bolts back to real business services and applications. Once complete, you can analyse the assessment results in the Codify CloudLift portal to understand the interdependencies between your infrastructure and business applications.

CT4: CT4 Azure Migration Assessment, Azure Application Modernisation and Azure Care are a suite of complimentary products offering a complete set of proven services, tools and capabilities to help clients realise the full potential of cloud technology to transition to a cloud-based as-a-service IT model.  Azure Migration Assessment includes cloud architecture designs, application roadmaps and optimised cloud environments, Azure Application Modernisation prepares client’s applications for transition to the cloud and Azure Care provides complete set of services and tools for ongoing cloud management.

Datacom: With over 5,200 people, and annual revenues of over $1.2 billion, Datacom is one of Australasia’s largest professional IT services companies. Datacom has extensive expertise in the operation of contact centres, data centres, the provision of IT services, software engineering and application management, as well as payroll and customer service design and operations. Founded in 1965 and operating across Australia and New Zealand, Asia, Europe and the Americas, Datacom has a successful trading history of consistent growth and profitability from a track record of delivering innovative, cost effective digital and technology solutions. Datacom is committed to hiring, developing and promoting diverse talent. Our people are the best in their fields – smart, passionate, and dedicated to providing exceptional IT services to our customers.”

Dialog: Dialog Information Technology is one of Australia’s leading technology services providers and employs over 1,200 information technology specialists nationally. Dialog’s services range from strategic IT consulting through full lifecycle application development and managed application services to long-term operational support. As a Microsoft Gold Partner, Dialog delivers a full range of business and information management solutions, including MS Dynamics 365 ERP, HR, CRM, Project Management, Field Services and PowerBI.  Dialog is experienced in migrating applications and content to Azure to take full advantage of the powerful ecosystem.

Diaxion: Diaxion offers Advisory and Professional Services to clients wanting to make the most out of their Public Cloud investments to assist in helping them maximise their ROI in the journey to cloud and hybrid cloud operating models.  Proven services delivered to Government, National Critical Infrastructure Providers and Regulated industries such as Financial Services enabling the holistic people, process and technology pathways to cloud.  Services such as, Target Operating models, Data Centre and Application modernisation, Roadmap development, Detailed design, technology business management and migration.

Dimension Data: Founded in 1983, Dimension Data is a USD 8 billion global leader in designing, optimising, and managing today’s evolving technology environments. This enables its clients to leverage data in a digital age, turn it into information, and extract insights. Headquartered in Johannesburg, Dimension Data employs 28,000 people across 46 countries. The company brings together the world’s best technology provided by market leaders and niche innovators with the service support that clients need for their businesses – from consulting, technical, and support services to a fully-managed service.

DocuSign: DocuSign is changing how business gets done by empowering more than 250,000 companies and more than 100 million users in 188 countries to send, sign and manage documents anytime, anywhere, on any device with trust and confidence. DocuSign replaces printing, faxing, scanning and overnighting paper documents to transact business. DocuSign enables organizations of every size, industry and geography to make every decision, approval, workflow and signature fully digital. DocuSign and Go to keep life and business moving forward.

DXC Technology: DXC Technology has a long-standing partnership with Microsoft to deliver secure, end-to-end cloud-based solutions that transform organisations and meet the needs of the evolving workplace. DXC are specialists for Microsoft Azure providing an holistic approach from consultation through to analysis, design, deliver and support, for mission critical cloud solutions with a deep knowledge of client requirements operating across all security classification levels.

Dynatrace: Dynatrace redefines how you monitor today’s digital ecosystems. AI-powered, full stack and completely automated, it’s the only solution that provides answers, not just data, based on deep insight into every user, every transaction, across every application. The world’s leading brands, including 72 of the Fortune 100, trust Dynatrace to optimise customer experiences, innovate faster and modernise IT operations with absolute confidence.

Empired: Empired Limited is an IT services provider with a broad range of capabilities targeted at delivering enterprise IT solutions that improve efficiency, productivity and competitive advantage for our clients. With a team of over 1,000 people located throughout Australia, New Zealand and North America, we offer a broad range of services, from managed services to digital transformation. This breadth allows Empired to deliver ‘end to-end’ business solutions that assist our customers in driving their key business outcomes, helping them to achieve tomorrow’s advantage, today.

Esri Australia: Esri Australia are Australia’s GIS technology experts and over the past four decades have built a strong track-record of achievement, earning the trust of the nation’s most progressive government agencies and commercial enterprises.  Our ArcGIS Enterprise users can harness the power of Microsoft’s scalable cloud infrastructure while maintaining full control of their geospatial assets.

GIS People: GIS People crafts software with global market potential. Their flagship product Gruntify is changing the way organisations manage their data collection, workflows and analysis. By harnessing a unique blend of mobile, mapping and cloud technologies, Gruntify powers the next generation of collaboration and productivity in an enterprise. Another product making waves around the country is Open Declare – the world’s first and only real-time political donations technology. It’s purpose-built from the ground up as an open, scalable and secure platform for all types of elections and stakeholders.

Gravity Consulting: Gravity Consulting is a global innovation consulting firm, fostering strategy and business innovation in organisations to accelerate digital transformation and overcome inertia. We challenge traditional ways of managing business complexity through applying emerging technologies and design solutions rooted in research and collaboration. Our aim is to design next generation products and services to enable organisations and government foster a culture of innovation to grow and stay relevant. The StrategydotZero platform enables governments and large enterprise to connect the dots between strategy & execution and establish digital and augmented pathways to the future of leadership, performance & governance.

Huntsman Security: Huntsman Security is a privately owned Australian business that provides high speed, automated SIEM technology to Australian and UK government departments. Our software delivers security in Azure by collecting and analysing events from all applications and processes within the Azure cloud, in real-time. Using the ASD Essential Eight as a benchmark, the security team has immediate visibility and control of their organisation’s security position. Specifically, the status of:  backups, patching, application whitelisting, administration privileges along with the location of information assets, who accessed them and when.

Leidos Australia: With over 1000 local experts, backed by our global experience and network of partners, Leidos Australia delivers solutions that help secure Australia.  Leidos Australia is a trusted partner to the Australian Government.  A leading science, technology and engineering company, we keep Australia safe.  With global reach-back into the US and UK, Leidos Australia is led by a local leadership team made up of three lines of business – IT Projects and Intelligence, Defence Mission Systems and IT Services.  We never shy away from a challenge – providing solutions to complex problems is part of our DNA.

MailGuard: MailGuard is a leading technological innovator and the world’s foremost cloud web & email security service, detecting and blocking fast-breaking criminal intent email threats 2-48 hrs ahead of the market. MailGuard provides protection for businesses in 27 countries throughout the world against email threats like malware, ransomware, spyware, phishing, spear phishing, CEO Fraud, viruses, spam and similar malicious scams.

MapR: MapR Technologies, a pioneer in Big Data delivers one platform for all data across every cloud, enables companies to harness the power of all of their data with the MapR Converged Data Platform. With the MapR Platform, companies can do analytics and applications together as data happens to create intelligent, next-generation applications to outperform the competition. Global 2000 enterprises and Government are using the MapR Platform to help them solve their most complex data challenges.

MongoDB: MongoDB is the leading modern, general purpose database platform, designed to unleash the power of software and data for developers and the applications they build. Headquartered in New York with 29 offices across the world, including Sydney, MongoDB has more than 5,700 customers in over 90 countries. Now get the power of MongoDB in the Azure Australia Central Regions. MongoDB Enterprise Advanced – our finely-tuned package of advanced software, security, support, certifications, and other services – offers the best and most secure way to run your applications in the Azure Australia Central Regions.

MOQdigital: MOQdigital believes it should be easier for businesses to get the most out of their technology investments. We have the insight and technical know-how to deliver innovative, reliable solutions that ‘just work’. Partnering with us will allow you to focus on your core business. Our advice, integration and operational services have allowed our customers to achieve business goals faster than the competition and be leaders in their field, including: More productive teaching and learning outcomes in Education, safer workers in remote Mining, Construction and Utility sites, more secure and compliant Finance, Superannuation and Insurance organisations, more patient-centric and productive Health and Aged Care environments, and remarkable guest experiences in Australia leading hotel groups.

Objective Connect: With government-grade security, Objective Connect creates a secure, private workspace in the cloud to collaborate on documents, capture conversations and control tasks. From cross-agency collaboration, working with outsourced service providers or simply digitally engaging with customers and citizens, Objective Connect can be used to manage any process involving external parties. Information Governance can be maintained by integrating Objective Connect with an organisation’s existing document and records management system, ensuring a ‘single source of truth’ is always maintained, even when working with external parties. Because it can be used to manage any business process, Objective Connect enables digital transformation – removing the need for paper, email, thumb drives, DVD’s and rogue or shadow IT.

Oobe: Secure Cloud allows you to get the most out of hyperscale cloud computing by securely extending your network, identity and security boundaries directly into Azure. Confidently deploy solutions knowing that trusted controls, processes and automation are in place to encapsulate and protect your presence in the cloud, silently maintaining the security and integrity of your systems and data.

PWC: PwC’s Secure Terrain, a cloud-based analytics platform that underpins a full suite of cybersecurity products. The platform leverages scalable machine learning techniques and enterprise-class cloud technology to rapidly aggregate and analyze enormous volumes of structured and unstructured data in near-real time. Our product solutions are designed to easily integrate with one another – and your current systems – to give visibility into activity both inside and outside your network so your team has the context it needs to focus on what matters most: protecting your organization.

Ralleo: Ralleo is an enterprise-grade software-as-aservice (SaaS) application that provides an intuitive interface that helps enterprise and government efficiently and consistently plan and manage business and organisational change. Ralleo is hosted on Microsoft Azure and integrates with SharePoint Online  and Power BI.

RecordPoint: Reducing complexity, standardizing the underlying technology platform and reducing the total cost of ownership are all key goals for organizations. RecordPoint supports these goals as it is built into the Microsoft platform and leverages your existing investments in SharePoint or Office 365. RecordPoint together with SharePoint is the complete solution for information management and governance. Available for both on premise and the cloud, RecordPoint offers a globally standard compliant, rules-based records management solution that solves the complexity of record management.

Red Hat: Red Hat is the world’s leading provider of open source software solutions, collaborating with customers, partners, and communities to create innovative cloud, Linux, middleware, mobile, management, storage, and virtualization technologies. Red Hat also offers award-winning support, training, and consulting services that help organizations better prepare for the future of IT.

SAP: Microsoft and SAP join forces to give customers a trusted path to digital transformation in the Cloud. SAP HANA® Enterprise Cloud — SAP’s private managed cloud service — on Microsoft Azure will allow customers to run SAP S/4HANA in a secure, managed cloud.  Unlocking the full value of SAP S/4HANA in a secure private cloud – managed by SAP.  SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud is the only end-to-end solution of its kind, delivering comprehensive cloud infrastructure and managed services for our in-memory applications, database, and platform.

S2IX: S2IX is an information appliance providing highly advanced, secure collaboration and office digitisation based on Microsoft® technologies, including SharePoint®. S2IX provides the technology tooling and information management capabilities in a secure structured architecture to deliver you a highly capable Enterprise Information Management (EIM) platform that can scale and deploy from the smallest platform to the very largest of Organisations.

Search 365: Search365 is at the forefront of artificial intelligence, with skills across advanced search algorithms, machine learning and massive expertise in natural language processing and text analytics. We’ve been experts in search and deep learning products since 2007, so Australian Government organisations and large enterprises trust us to build and support their mission-critical search and AI systems.

Servian: Servian is one of Australia’s leading consulting companies with strong focus on data.  We have over 250 consultants engaged by 70+ clients across Australia and New Zealand, strongly supported by our offshore partner located in Bangalore. Our professional services include Advisory, Consulting and Managed Services, spanning Data & Analytics, Digital, Customer Engagement, Artificial Intelligence, and Cloud.

SixPivot: SixPivot are a leading Microsoft Gold Partner and ISV who have partnered with UK based Black Marble the innovators behind tuServ to bring this ground-breaking technology to Australia.  Developed with operational police officers for operational officers, tuServ is a revolutionary approach to digitising modern policing. tuServ is a platform that synthesises and consolidates information from all backend systems into one easy to use platform, with real time information, access to back office systems, including federated searches and collaboration.  Incorporating mixed reality, the Scene of Crime application allows for crime scene investigators to capture digital evidence and place virtual markers without disturbing the physical scene and potentially tainting evidence.

Sitecore: Sitecore is the global leader in customer experience management that lets marketers own the experience they deliver to their customers and prospects. Sitecore delivers highly relevant content and personalized digital experiences that delight audiences, build loyalty, and drive revenue. More than 4,600 of the world’s leading brands — including American Express, Carnival Cruise Lines, easyJet, and L’Oréal — trust Sitecore to help them deliver the meaningful interactions that win customers for life.

SUSE: SUSE® provides and supports enterprise-grade Linux and open source solutions with exceptional service, value and flexibility. With partners and communities, we innovate, adapt and deliver secure Linux, cloud infrastructure and storage software to create solutions for mixed enterprise IT environments.

Telstra Health: Telstra Health provides technology solutions that connect healthcare providers with patients and each other and help improve the quality, efficiency and security of health services in Australia. We provide software applications, open platforms and data security services to the pharmacy, hospital, primary, diagnostic, Indigenous health and aged, disability and community care sectors in Australia, as well as Government and insurance companies. We aim to be the technology provider of choice for the Australian healthcare sector empowering provider and payers to find better ways to serve patients in a connected world.

Thales: Take advantage of all that Azure has to offer with Thales Encryption Key Management. Are you holding back from taking full advantage of Microsoft Exchange and Office 360 in Azure because encryption key management seems insurmountable? With Thales’ comprehensive, on-premise, encryption key management service, you can now switch on Azure and enjoy the benefits.  Using Thales’ Crypto Key Solutions for web-based key lifecycle management as well as Thales Hardware Security Modules, our fully managed service generates, stores, wraps, and exports keys to the cloud – taking away all of the associated pains of managing and refreshing keys, whilst ensuring full control of keys on your premise.

Unisys: Unisys is a global information technology company that builds high-performance, security-centric solutions for the most digitally demanding businesses and governments on Earth. Unisys offerings include security software and services; digital transformation and workplace services; industry applications and services; and innovative software operating environments for high-intensity enterprise computing. Together, Unisys and Microsoft are transforming businesses worldwide. Unisys is excited to be an official launch partner for the new Microsoft Azure Central Region. By enabling protected workloads in the cloud, Unisys and Microsoft can deliver more flexible, cost efficient and trusted solutions to help our clients deliver their digital transformation roadmap.

Veritas Technologies: Veritas Technologies empowers businesses of all sizes to discover the truth in information—their most important digital asset. Using the Veritas platform, customers can accelerate their digital transformation and solve pressing IT and business challenges including multi-cloud data management, data protection, storage optimization, compliance readiness and workload portability—with no cloud vendor lock-in. Eighty-six percent of Fortune 500 companies rely on Veritas today to reveal data insights that drive competitive advantage.

Veritec: Veritec is the trusted partner for transformation in the Australian public sector. As a Microsoft Gold partner with over 120 specialists, we are the only Canberra based FastTrack for Azure partner, with significant experience in assisting government organisations to move successfully to the cloud. Having over 200 engagements in government over the last two years, Veritec helps government organisations optimise operations, empower employees, drive innovation and deliver value to their citizens with improved services through Microsoft technologies. Services include; Azure migrations, cloud discovery, our Azure Kick-Start program, Azure Assessments and educational workshops to empower your digital transformation. Veritec partners with your organisation to successfully achieve your digital transformation.

VMWare: VMware Horizon® Cloud Service™ on Microsoft Azure provides a single platform for delivering virtualized Windows applications and shared desktop sessions from Windows Server instances using Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (RDS) running in Microsoft Azure. With Horizon Cloud, you can publish business critical Windows apps alongside SaaS and mobile apps and desktops in a single digital workspace, easily accessed with single sign-on from any authenticated device or operating system.

Wardy IT: WARDY IT Solutions’ Azure Database Elevation is designed to enable government departments to seamlessly migrate their existing database workloads to Azure.  Our security cleared and Microsoft Certified team assist to modernise the SQL Server platform through a proven methodology that enables operational excellence and de-risks the migration to the cloud.