Microsoft - The Arrival

by Rai Leota

I've been having great client conversations about the arrival of the Microsoft Datacentres here in New Zealand. The underlying question has been "what does that mean for vBridge?". Here's my opinion in a nutshell.

Microsoft's decision to bring the availability of it's services onshore is a true game changer, it's an incredible outcome for New Zealand and all it's communities. My hat goes off to Vanessa Sorenson and the team at Microsoft, along with the partner community that made this happen. Chur!

Here's what I think the considerations and opportunities are for us at vBridge and the wider community of in-country IaaS providers.

  • High speed low latency at an affordable price:
    Legacy systems that need high performance and low latency will be around for some time yet. There a numerous companies running with core applications that are custom in nature. These will need to be re-written, re-architected or repurchased, none are an exercise that can happen without due consideration, effort and complexity.  
  • Data Sovereignty:
    The arrival of the Microsoft datacentres will solve the challenge some clients have had around Data Sovereignty. We have and still believe it's an important consideration and recommend to have at minimum a copy of your data here in New Zealand and ensure it is covered by New Zealand based legislation.
  • Consultancy:
    An emphasis on guiding clients through the cloud landscape and the ever increasing options will lead to further consultancy opportunities. Placing the right things in the right places will be key to success for New Zealand business, there is no one size fits all, hence the rise in hybrid cloud as a preference.
  • Partnering:
    I hold a firm belief that the New Zealand ICT community would benefit by increased focus on partnering in a strong and complimentary manner for overall client success. To this end I'm excited about what future partnerships the Microsoft announcement will foster and/or solidify.

Ultimately, there's a great opportunity here as more of New Zealand's businesses look at how cloud can help them achieve incredible things.