Microsoft onshoring Office 365 and Dynamics CRM cloud services to Australian datacentres – with no price increase

Microsoft is set to offer Office 365 and Dynamics CRM from its Australian datacentres, in a big win for businesses with concerns about cloud services being hosted in overseas datacentres.

New customers signing up after the services launch will automatically receive Office 365 and Dynamics CRM hosted from Australia. For existing services billed in Australia, there will be no additional costs in switching over and Microsoft will notify customers ahead of it attempting to switch accounts over.

Local hosting and data residency considerations are especially important for businesses dealing with sensitive information, especially in the healthcare, education, government, defence or financial services sectors.

The move comes after Microsoft launched two Australian datacentres in Melbourne and Sydney as part of its Azure cloud computing platform in October.

Meanwhile, following a pilot period with Ensyst, Melbourne IT and iiNet, Microsoft is expanding its Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) Program with four additional partners: OBS, Cloud First, Nimbal (a joint venture between Kloud and XCentral) and OzHosting. The program allows partners to offer direct billing, provisioning, management and support for Microsoft Cloud Services.

“We’re helping Australians do the things they care about from anywhere, anytime and on any device with the help of cloud services that they can trust,” Microsoft Australia managing director Pip Marlow said.

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