Telstra (ASX: TLS) is pushing ahead with its Cloud services strategy through the extension of an existing partnership with storage vendor EMC.
Under the agreement, the company has joined the Velocity service provider partner program, which means it can sell EMC products as part of its Cloud portfolio. As a result Telstra is now in the process of recruiting more sales and services delivery staff.
In-depth: Cloud computing strategy guide.
While Telstra Cloud computing general manager, Mark Pratley, could not provide staff numbers, he said that as part of the company's five-year $800 million Cloud investment it needed to attract more personnel across the Cloud business.
“It’s a validation of a long standing partnership and moving it to a new level,” he said. “The key change is the combined sales forces; so, for example, the EMC sales team can now sell a Telstra Cloud service to their customers and vice versa.
“In order to get to that, we needed to invest in the skills, training and particular Cloud technologies which we have done for a long time.”
According to Pratley, the company has acknowledged that it did not have “all the answers internally” and partnerships were key to realising its Cloud strategy.
“In this case, the development of a product roadmap that supports the combination of EMC’s technology and our network is critical,” he said.
Telstra has worked with EMC since 2004 on various projects including a storage Cloud.
The deal with EMC follows an announcement in September that Telstra had received SAP’s Cloud certification. This meant that enterprise customers who planned to outsource their SAP software applications to the company's Cloud infrastructure could now proceed.
In August Telstra joined the likes of Amazon EC2, Fujitsu and IBM, receiving Red Hat certification for its public Cloud offering.
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