Telstra & Accenture set up joint cloud computing lab

Telstra and Accenture have set up a joint cloud computing technology lab in Melbourne to develop cloud computing products for clients in Australia and New Zealand.

Gavin Michael, chief technology research officer at Accenture, added: "This is an important evolution of our alliance with Telstra and a real possibility for us to bring into Australia proven cloud solutions. [The new lab] is integrated into the Accenture global technology network. It is a way for us to bring to the market in Australia cloud solutions we see in other parts of the world."

It followed the cloud partnership with Accenture announced last October. In accordance with that agreement between Telstra and Accenture customers' applications are hosted in a virtualised environment in Telstra data centres and delivered over Telstra's IP network infrastructure with Accenture providing: the expertise to transition customers' existing applications into the cloud; ongoing support for those applications; and implementing new applications in the cloud in other words than in clients' own data centres.

Telstra announced in June plans to invest $800m over the at once five years to boost its ability to offer cloud computing services. It said that money would be spent on building a new state-of-the-art data centre in Melbourne, modernising and expanding other existing data centres and expanding the range of cloud based applications on offer, and developing an integrated online account management portal, nevertheless gave few specifics. Neither Telstra nor Accenture have given any indication of what investment will be made in the new research lab.