After hearing about Microsoft’s forthcoming Aotearoa datacenter region for a while now, Kiwis are becoming armchair experts on the benefits of hyperscale cloud.
There’s the 134,000 jobs public cloud adoption is expected to generate in New Zealand over the next three years, the massive potential for carbon reduction and of course, near-zero latency, enabling organisations and individuals from Auckland Transport to gaming developers to migrate to the public cloud for the first time without losing a millisecond.
And at a time when cybercrime has become a global growth industry, the security benefits of the new datacenter region have been one of the top things everyone on the cloud journey wants to know about. But that’s where the general perception around hyperscale cloud can get a little…foggy.
As with any trip, tips from armchair experts (or your cousin Andy) may not actually be current, safe or reliable. So, we’ve put together some key observations from the experts to help travellers get the most out of their cloud journey – and reach their destination at the right time, having actually enjoyed the experience.
#1 DON’T BOOK AT THE LAST MINUTE
As with any new development, many people are reluctant to be first adopters, waiting for the kinks to be ironed out or the price to come down before they make the switch. The same goes for organisations waiting for hyperscale cloud to officially appear in-country.
But waiting until the day to buy your hyperscale bus ticket could see you standing in a cloud of dust, while all the people who booked early zoom off to their destination ahead of you. We’re already seeing a lot of smart travellers who have begun “packing” their data, architecture and solutions, ready to migrate to the hyperscale datacenter region, because they know that doing it at the last minute means getting left behind. As in that scenario, it’s virtually impossible (or way more expensive) to catch up once the bus leaves.
It’s extremely difficult to migrate across actual borders without preparing first, and migrating in the digital world takes just as much planning and groundwork to set up your organisation in a new public cloud environment, re-designing products and back-end solutions to utilise tools such as PowerBI and Open AI, as well as building a proper knowledge base that shares the right information across your organisation with the right people, on the right channels.
Those organisations who have already begun the journey to hyperscale datacenter migration will already be well-established by the time slower migraters get moving, meaning they’ll be first to leverage AI productivity tools at scale, first to enhance customer offers using big data insights and real-time responsiveness, first to decarbonise their cloud consumption and so on.
The opportunity cost of that is massive. Rather than saving yourself money later, waiting until the day could just cost you customers.
#2: SHARING IS OPTIONAL
Understandably, there’s a lot of interest in what the datacenter region is going to mean for cybersecurity. But many aren’t sure about whether joining public cloud, or using new Open AI-powered technologies, means they’ll have to share their data with everyone else.
The good news is that, in this accommodation, you don’t have to share your space or your stuff. If you’re using Microsoft’s cloud and AI products, such as Azure AI, everything within that environment is yours, and doesn’t get used to train open-source machine learning tools on the open web. That’s the difference between the free ChatGPT tools offered by our partner Open AI, and those developed specifically for Microsoft based on the Open AI platforms.
But while sharing private data is not a good idea, leveraging shared cloud security and tools like Microsoft Security Copilot will give you an advantage over digital pickpockets who are also taking advantage of AI for their own nefarious purposes. AI tools picking up billions of signals per day via the public cloud learn at machine speed, so even tiny organisations using public cloud technologies get automated updates to defend them much better and faster than they could manage on their own.
#3: WHAT HAPPENS IN NEW ZEALAND STAYS IN NEW ZEALAND
Government agencies such as the Department of Internal Affairs and the Accident Compensation Corporation are migrating data to Microsoft cloud because they now have the option to store and process data either overseas or locally, getting the best of both global scale and local presence. In fact demand from these and other major organisations like Fonterra, BNZ and Craigs Investment Partners has led to Microsoft recently investing in more five-star hyperscale cloud accommodation in New Zealand.
Would-be cloud travellers are often worried that booking into a Microsoft datacenter region means their data could be “raided” by the US government, under the CLOUD Act. But any request for data is subject to strict legal processes, which require just cause – and Microsoft’s own policy is to vigorously defend any attempts to circumvent this, which it has successfully done in the past.
Cloud travellers can rest assured that any data stored in New Zealand really does stay in New Zealand – unless they choose otherwise.
#4: FLEXIBILITY IS KEY
Circumstances change – we get it. Luckily, while fixed itineraries like Microsoft’s Cloud Adoption Framework give you an ideal (and easy) framework to travel from A to DC, organisations who want a bit of flexibility can choose the bolt-ons they want to suit their own style, and travel at their own pace.
Don’t want to go all-in on public cloud? No problem. Local Microsoft Partners can manage cloud workloads for customers in hybrid cloud environments with Azure Arc, so customers can manage, control, secure and be compliant consistently across all cloud environments, and choose to bring Microsoft Cloud to other solutions to suit their schedule and budget. Even small companies can find a solution to suit them, blending on-premises and public cloud just how they like it.
Travel is about the journey as much as the destination. No matter where you’re headed, hyperscale cloud could be the perfect vehicle to get you there faster and safer – as long as you plan ahead!