Optus steals march on Telstra with Microsoft cloud first

Optus Business is one of only two companies in Australia to join Microsoft’s global Cloud OS Network.

While Optus' arch-rival Telstra  is known for landing plum partnerships with Microsoft – including as its exclusive syndication partner for Office 365 and as the country's first Azure connectivity partner – Optus has announced it is one of 25 providers around the world to join the Microsoft Cloud OS Network.

The carrier is one of the only two partners listed under the program by Microsoft in Australia, the other being TPG-owned Trusted Cloud. Revera is listed as the sole partner in New Zealand. Overseas, other members include Dimension data, CSC, Capgemini and Fujitsu.

Microsoft describes its Cloud OS Network as a worldwide consortium of more than 25 cloud service providers delivering services built on Windows Server with Hyper-V, System Center and the Windows Azure Pack.

Partners will be able to offer greater choice in customisation, data sovereignty, security, privacy and service levels, according to Microsoft.

Ensyst, the Sydney-based Microsoft partner that Optus acquired last year, is a key plank in the Cloud OS strategy. With the aid of Ensyst, Optus Business will help enterprise and government customers procure and deploy IT resources across private, public or hybrid cloud environments.

Optus Business managing director John Paitaridis described the partnership as way to combine Microsoft technology with Optus’ managed cloud and hosting expertise.

Meanwhile, Optus parent SingTel will deliver a hybrid offering, focusing on database-as-a-service, disaster recovery and productivity solutions using Microsoft Lync and Exchange. It is yet to be confirmed if it will roll these services into Australia.

The announcement follows several moves by Optus to strengthen its cloud offerings. 

In March, Optus also joined Telstra in becoming part of Cisco’s Intercloud initiative, and also offers the PowerON platform. Optus also achieved a place on the federal government’s Cloud Services Panel.

The carrier has a fight on its hand in the cloud space with Telstra, which is connecting an extensive cloud network encompassing IBM Softlayer, vCloud Air, Cisco Intercloud, Telstra's own infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) platform and direct connections into Azure and Amazon Web Services.