Optus reveals business cloud computing strategy in response to Telstra

Optus has responded to Telstra’s push to become a cloud services provider focused on the Asia-Pacific region by outlining plans to leverage infrastructure from its parent company, SingTel, to provide points of presence across the region.

The strategy, described as being “closely aligned with SingTel” will see the telco offer Australian businesses access to infrastructure-, software- and network-as-a-service products.

Central to the strategy is Optus’ ability, through subsidiary Uecomm, to offer direct, low-latency fibre links between businesses and either the Amazon AWS or Microsoft Azure (through Microsoft’s ExpressRoute service) cloud platforms.

Optus has also joined its key rival, Telstra, by becoming a partner in Cisco’s Intercloud Provider network.

It comes after SingTel stepped up its datacentre investment after Telstra acquired cloud-based services businesses O2 and NSC and formed a cloud computing joint venture with Telkom Indonesia while selling off stakes in non-core businesses such as Sensis.

“The significance of the Optus cloud program is that we are bringing to market a range of ICT products and services that, on the back of our extensive network capabilities locally and regionally, offer our customers a single service provider across the complete technology stack,” Optus Business managing director John Paitaridis said in a statement.