I am not even going to pretend that I can match the eloquence level of some Microsoft announcements so I’m going to copy this one verbatim. In short, if you are a Microsoft Partner with expertise in Azure and/or Dynamics 365, and you deal with the government(s), read and take action.

We are excited to announce that our new Azure regions in Canberra are now available. These new regions are designed to serve the needs of Australian and New Zealand Government, critical national infrastructure commercial organisations and their trusted suppliers. We have entered into a strategic partnership with Canberra Data Centres to deliver these new regions, unlocking the potential for digital transformation and innovation.

Additionally, the Australian Signals Directorate has upgraded the certification of 25 Azure and 10 Office 365 services to Protected status, making us the first global cloud provider to achieve this certification level in Australia. Our new regions also offer 100% ANZ supply chain assurance, high availability and disaster resilience, and the specialised connectivity and colocation characteristics necessary to support the mission-critical data requirements of our customers.

We operate a process for whitelisting Azure subscriptions to deploy into the new Australia Central Regions. This is a two-step process to firstly authorise eligible Australian and New Zealand organisations, and secondly to enable these organisations to provide Azure Subscription IDs for whitelisting.

Alongside this and aligned to our launch, we are pleased to announce our Azure Skills Training Program designed to help build the fundamental skills needed to enable cloud adoption. Through July, we will offer a series of highly subsidised, in person and instructor led training courses in all capital cities across Australia.

If you are interested in finding out more, here are some next steps:

• Register for one of the courses available in the Azure Skills Training Program
• Download the Modernising Mission-Critical Applications whitepaper
• Check whether your organisation is eligible and request to be whitelisted for access to the Australia Central Regions here

Visit Azure.com/Australia to find out more about these new Regions, to check your eligibility, view our launch partners, and learn how to get started.