Coming Soon to a Region Near You – Windows Azure (Australia)!

Microsoft announced today that they will create a new Windows Azure major deployment region in Australia, consisting of two sub-regions in Sydney & Melbourne! This is outstanding news and a welcome development for numerous organisations that would otherwise embrace the scalability, flexibility, affordability and rapid implementation capabilities afforded by cloud-based and hybrid solutions, were it not for concerns regarding data sovereignty and latency.

Moreover, the geo-redundancy offered by two distinct locations separated by over 700 kilometres (440 miles) means that clients can be assured of business continuity even if one major city was taken out by a catastrophic disaster – all while still maintaining their data within national borders.

Here are two excellent blog posts by my colleagues Dean Robertson and Paul Bouwer explaining these principles in much greater detail:

• What an Australian Azure Region Means for Customers
• Understanding the Benefits of Windows Azure Geo-Redundancy in Australia

This means that at least one of my current clients in the financial industry can reconsider using Azure Service Bus to enable a scalable & robust asynchronous integration scenario between on-premise systems and external customers. Looking forward to seeing more of our Australian clients willing to embrace the cloud now!