Amazon Web Services (AWS) has signed a new agreement allowing all Victorian government departments to purchase its cloud services via a standard agreement.
The new State Purchase Contract (SPC) allows Victorian government agencies and councils to buy AWS services via standardised conditions and buying power “traditionally enjoyed by much larger organisations”.
According to AWS, five out of nine government departments in Victoria are already using the new contract.
The agreement also facilitates collaboration between local partners such as The Data Foundry and Victorian government agencies, where they can resell into government via distribution.
Additionally, AWS singled out its technology partnerships with Versent and Indigenous-owned Towcha Technology as examples of its work with its partner community in the state.
“The agreement with the Victorian government is just one part of AWS’s commitment to the state of Victoria, which will soon be the home to our new AWS Asia Pacific (Melbourne) Region,” Iain Rouse, AWS country director, said.
“In addition, AWS supports more security standards and compliance certifications than any other cloud offering, and provides services to millions of active customers around the world including financial services providers, healthcare providers, and government agencies, who trust us to secure and protect their most sensitive information.”
Rouse noted that Victoria will soon become the second AWS Region in Australia and will consist of three separate Availability Zones at launch.
“Having a second Region within the country provides additional IT architectural options for our local customers – including the ability to store backup data in geographically separated locations within Australia, which is crucial for services such as emergency management,” he added.
“It also boosts cloud performance while creating jobs through the construction phase and into ongoing operations.”
The upcoming region was first announced in December 2020.
At the time of its announcement, Simon Elisha, who was previously AWS' director of public sector technology and transformation in Australia and New Zealand, said users of the cloud giant's Sydney region will likely take take advantage of the Melbourne region once it comes online.
“We anticipate the Melbourne region will have the same level of service and sophistication as the Sydney region, and that’s with all the services customers know and love,” he said.
