Thirty five companies make Federal Govt cloud list

Telstra, IBM, Dell and HP are among 35 firms to make it onto a preferred supplier list to provide cloud services to the Federal Government.

The Datacentre As a Service (DCAAS) Multi-Use List (MUL) also includes a number of small-to-medium sized service providers.

The list is an implementation of the Australian Government Data Centre Strategy 2010-2015 and the Australian Government Cloud Computing Strategic Direction Paper.

Service providers admitted to the list cover everything from virtualisation to disaster recovery, eTendering packages and online collaboration tools.

In unveiling the list, the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO's) first assistant secretary for agency services, John Sheridan, noted that government should always be the "first in the second place for taking up new technologies and approaches."

Those on the list had to prove their integrity as companies via references. The Government also sought assurance as to the company's status via Dunn & Bradstreet, Sheridan said.

Arrangements sourced via the list can be valued up to $80,000 and last up to a year.

Sheridan defended the size limits and the fact that deals struck couldn't be rolled over. "We need to start small and expand incrementally," he said.

The MUL is in line with the Federal Government’s Guide To Implementing Cloud Services, which suggests departments and agencies initially trial low-risk projects in the cloud.

It also calls for agencies to implement cloud in a coordinated manner.

Service providers that won a place on the scheme welcomed today's announcement. Many highlighted the CapEx and OpEx benefits that agencies might expect to achieve by utilising cloud services.

The full list:

• Bulletproof Networks
• C3 Business Solutions
• Cloud Central
• Compuware Asia Pacific
• Datacom Systems (ACT) 
• Dell Australia
• Digital (Digest) Data Design 
• Emantra 
• eMite
• Enterprise Data Corporation 
• Ethan Group 
• Flying Haggis Pty Ltd t/a Fluccs
• Hewlett-Packard Australia 
• IBM Australia
• iCognition 
• Infoplex
• Intech Solutions 
• IntelligenceBank 
• Interactive
• Interhost Pacific Pty Ltd t/a Intervolve
• Lazu 
• Lock Box 
• Macquarie Telecom 
• Objective Corporation 
• Pacnet Internet 
• Sliced Labs Pty Ltd trustee for Sliced Tech Holdings Unit Trust (t/a sliced Tech)
• Telstra 
• Trade Interchange (Asia-Pacific) 
• TransACT Capital Communications
• Uber Global
• Ultra Serve Internet
• uniDap Solutions
• UXC Connect
• VoIP Pty Ltd
• ZettaGrid 

Several cloud providers have provided comment about their incusion in the list. Ultraserve released a statement saying "This is very significant news for UltraServe, and our appointment to the MUL demonstrates our inherent and proven ability to meet a broad range of government agency needs in the cloud sphere. Further, UltraServe is wholly Australian owned and operated, so the data remains locally in Australia, offering a further critical layer of assurance to government agencies,” said Samuel Yeats, CEO of UltraServe.

Bulletproof's chief operating officer, Lorenzo Modesto also commented, saying "Bulletproof already supplies many state, federal and commonwealth bodies, including delivering the Department of the Treasury's budget.gov.au this year. We've already had significant interest from several departments, but it's still in what we would define as an "Early Adopter" stage as far as government take-up is concerned."