Telstra and Microsoft team up on Australian cloud growth

Telstra and Microsoft inked a new five-year strategic partnership to focus on Australian digital transformation projects. Microsoft will become an anchor tenant on Telstra’s inter-city fiber network and support Telstra’s objective of getting 90 percent of its apps on public cloud by 2025.

Telstra plans to use Azure, Microsoft 365, and Teams to bring a series of offerings to market for hybrid work and cloud migration, focused on industry verticals such as agriculture, utilities, finance, retail, and manufacturing. These offerings will take shape in Telstra Purple, the company’s managed services and technology consulting branch.

Microsoft is considering whether to boost its capacity on Telstra’s Asia-Pacific subsea cable network. Additionally, the two companies have co-developed Branch Offload, a 5G-enabled edge computing offering for the Australian market, with secure edge and SD-WAN capabilities.

“As the go-to partner for Microsoft in Australia, this expanded agreement will turbocharge how we deliver compelling, all-digital experiences. The pervasiveness of technology in businesses today and its ability to transform their operations, improve productivity, reduce their environmental impact and meet evolving customer needs means there’s no one-size-fits all solution. Beyond our network, one of our biggest differentiators is our 2,000-strong Telstra Purple team of technology experts who partner with businesses to design, deliver and manage solutions across cloud, cybersecurity, software development, data and AI, and workplace technologies. Our strategic partnership with Microsoft is on a scale not seen before in Australia, and it will be Australian businesses who will benefit at a time when the urgency to digitise and transform their operations has never been greater,” stated Telstra CEO Andrew Penn.

“Digital technology is foundational to the resilience and differentiation of every organization. Our partnership brings together Telstra’s leadership in network connectivity with the breadth and depth of the Microsoft Cloud to address key challenges, including hybrid work and sustainability, and support Australia’s growth,” added Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft, in a statement.