New Oracle Cloud region for govt and Defence launched

Enterprise IT vendor Oracle has launched a new cloud computing region in Canberra, for the federal government and Defence use.

Named Oracle Cloud for Australian Government and Defence, the hyperscale region is restricted to public sector agencies and their partners only.

Oracle said federal, state, and local government customers, along with their service providers, will benefit from the infrastructure's high performance, security, powerful data analytics and distributed cloud capabilities.

Together with the Defence, Oracle has completed the Information Security Registered Assessors Program (IRAP) process, for the government cloud to comply with Information Security Manual PROTECTED level controls.

Data willl not be be transferred from Australia throughout its lifecycle without express permission or action of customers, to adhere to strict digital sovereignty rules.

The new cloud is physically separated from other Oracle regions, similar to its public sector facilities in the United States, and United Kingdom, and has no backbone connections to others such as the Sydney and Melbourne public regions.

“Building on our experience with sovereign government regions in the US and the UK, Oracle is providing the Australian government with cloud infrastructure that has the same services and consistent global pricing as our public cloud regions," Rand Waldron, vice president, global government sector, Oracle, said.

“This region, restricted to the government community, will make it easier for Australia to bring its most important systems to the cloud and take advantage of the unique efficiency, support, and capability that Oracle offers to drive their mission success," Waldron added.

The new region will offer government customers access to over 100 Oracle Cloud Infrastructure services.

This includes Oracle's Autononmous Database, MySQL Heatwave Database Service, the Container Engine for Kubernetes, its Cloud VMware Solution, along with integrated security and zero-trust capabilities.

“The ACT Government welcomes Oracle’s investment in this new capability here in Canberra,” Andrew Barr, chief minister and treasurer, ACT Government, said.

Barr added that the cloud region will be an important addition to Canberra's digital infrastructure and adds to the depth and breadth of the capabilities that the city's cyber security sector can offer.

Oracle's regional managing director for Australia and New Zealand, Stephen Bovis, said the new region reinforces the vendor's commitment to delivering a scalable, secure, and high-performing cloud platform, and business applications that are built to meet the stringent security standards necessary to protect Australia's most important data.

In 2020, Oracle signed a whole-of-government agreement with the Digital Transformation Agency, for easier access to the enterprise vendor's products and services.