Microsoft has struck a multi-year agreement with Canberra-based Veritec to operate a “modernisation factory” aimed at bringing more government workloads into the company’s protected-level Azure cloud.
As reported by iTnews last month, Veritec is one of three Canberra-based Microsoft partners that is at the forefront of defining security controls that enable government agencies to store protected data in Azure.
The company today said it had won the right to “operate Microsoft’s modernisation factory … for the delivery of cloud modernisation and workload migrations, to be provided under the Microsoft Consulting Services banner.”
“The modernisation factory will focus initially on modernising operating systems, databases and application workloads running on a Microsoft platform, as well as migrating supported workloads into the Microsoft Azure cloud, with additional services to come online in the near future,” Veritec said.
“Veritec and Microsoft want to support customers as they modernise and migrate to the cloud, allowing them to take advantage of the Protected certification awarded to Azure by the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD); in particular, the new Azure central regions in Canberra.”
Veritec said that the factory would be established in partnership with Microsoft, and that the deal had come from “one of Microsoft’s largest and most comprehensive request for services to be conducted in Australia”.
The factory will draw upon “standardised IP and methodologies” from Microsoft, as well as Veritec’s existing public sector work.
Veritec said it would “deploy a production line, featuring fixed price and highly repetitive processes for validation and design of Azure infrastructure.”
“This factory provides government and critical infrastructure a fast, reliable and fixed price service to update their legacy back end systems,” Veritec Apps and Infra executive Alex Dalwood said.
“Once modernised these agencies can take full advantage of the extended capabilities on offer in Azure.”
Aside from Veritec, DQA and oobe have also emerged as key players in helping agencies transition protected-level workloads and data into Azure.
DQA - a Microsoft gold cloud platform partner - worked closely with the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) to put in place security controls to manage risks with shifting its protected-level communications into Office 365.
DTA is the first federal agency to pilot protected-level data in a Microsoft cloud.
The emergence of security controls developed by the likes of DQA, Veritec and oobe has largely negated industry speculation and concerns over the readiness of Office 365 and Azure to support protected-level workloads.
