Microsoft is preparing to provide Azure services from within Australia in "a matter of months", according to the software vendor's Australian managing director Pip Marlow.
Microsoft announced in May last year that it would roll out two new Australian subregions for its cloud services. The data centres for the service are located in New South Wales and Victoria.
Marlow revealed in a blog entry that the 'Australian Azure Geo' is in private preview.
"Now I still can’t give you the final date for general availability but I can share that it is just around the corner, a matter of months away," the Microsoft Australia MD wrote.
"Today marks a really important step for customers and partners on our cloud journey in Australia. Azure opens the doors to a whole new range of possibilities for customers and partners – and we’re already seeing some of these come to life in the work of our private preview partners," Marlow wrote.
The revelation that Microsoft will shortly launch its cloud services Australia follows on the heels of IBM launching its SoftLayer cloud services in the country last month. IBM will offer cloud services from Melbourne and Sydney data centres.
All of SoftLayer's cloud services will be available from the data centres including bare metal and virtual servers, storage and networking in one integrated platform
Amazon launched a Sydney region for its public cloud services in November 2012. Rackspace launched its first Australian data centre in August 2012.