Microsoft floats fresh cloud tools

Beverley Head
Wednesday, 20 October 2010 13:15

Business IT - Networking

Software giant Microsoft has announced Office 365, a cloud based suite of tools that brings together Office, SharePoint, Exchange and Lync, which it is targeting at small businesses and professionals - although the service won't be available to Australians until next year and pricing has not yet been revealed.

Telstra will be among the Microsoft partners offering the cloud based service in Australia.  The provision of cloud computing services is becoming increasingly important to Telstra which is slated to make a 'cloud strategic announcement' at a briefing in Sydney tomorrow.

Interest in and enthusiasm for cloud computing continues to rise. Analyst Ovum has released a report suggesting that cloud computing will gain additional momentum during 2011, although Government is expected to want to keep its data inside the national boundaries.

That desire to keep data on local soil will help shape the cloud providers market according to Ovum which claims that; 'Domestic telcos across the region will start to position as the dominant providers of enterprise-grade cloud computing services - differentiating on the basis of keeping data within country, their operational scale and their ability to manage end-to-end quality of service.

'Asian governments will continue to invest in local cloud computing capabilities to boost the competitiveness of their ICT industries in the region while Australia stays asleep at the wheel on the need to link the government procurement and industry development agendas', according to Dr Steve Hodgkinson, Ovum research director. 'The Government needs to wake up to the fact that cloud computing will offshore Australian ICT jobs if we are too slow off the mark in stimulating the growth of competitive cloud facilities down under'.

However according to Microsoft Australia's associate general counsel and director of legal and corporate affairs Jeff Bullwinkel some of the concerns which enterprises harbour about using overseas based cloud services are unfounded.

He said that arguments that the US might exercise the US Patriot Act in order to trawl through cloud computing data, or that the Singapore government might similarly demand access to data centres based on its soil were overblown. While he did not deny that it was possible Governments of all flavours could seek warrants to access cloud based data, he said; 'The idea that law enforcement officials have the right to rummage around willy nilly just because they can - well that wouldn't happen because of the interest that Governments have in working together.'