Microsoft has opened a new multimillion-dollar technology centre in Sydney to help its Australian enterprise and government customers accelerate their adoption of cloud and AI.

The company says the “state of the art” Microsoft Technology Centre (MTC) is a “significant and important investment” investment in the Australian market.

The new Centre is backed by strategic partnerships with DXC Technology and the NSW Government.

It will house six technical architects, a technology manager, and a director. It will also be supported by the “broader Microsoft community” in Australia and globally, the company said.

The MTC comprises an “envisioning” theatre, a showcase for displaying Microsoft and partner solutions, an innovation factory, a social hub, a cyber security room, and workshop and boardroom areas.

“The Microsoft Technology Centre will help our customers accelerate their digital journeys,” Microsoft Australia’s managing director, Steven Worrall said in a statement.

“The centre brings together the right resources – people and technology – in one location to demonstrate what can be achieved in their organisation and then to work with them to bring that to life.”

Building on recent investments

The MTC builds on other recent Australian investments, Microsoft said.

In April last year Microsoft launched two new Azure regions in Canberra. Those regions, intended for use by Australian governments and their partners, have been certified to store and process classified federal government data.

To coincide with the launch, Microsoft also announced a five-year strategic partnership with DXC Technology, centred around transitioning enterprise and public sector customers to Microsoft Azure.

Billed as a “first of its kind worldwide”, the alliance is designed to support both “current and future” customers of DXC seeking to transition workloads to the vendor’s cloud platform.

“Microsoft Azure is a trusted, secure and high-performance cloud with an already comprehensive and growing array of services,” added Seelan Nayagam, managing director of DXC Technology.

“Together we can provide solutions that our government and commercial clients can confidently deploy today while being prepared for changing market conditions or expectations.”

In partnership, Microsoft and DXC plan to target key customers across banking, commercial and public sectors, as part of plans to migrate enterprise-grade workloads to Azure.

NSW Government deal

Microsoft has also signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the NSW Government’s Department of Finance, Services and Innovation, strengthening its government ties.

The agreement brings NSW Department leads into the new centre to assess how department services and operations can tap into digital technologies, with a focus on data and cyber security.

“This memorandum of understanding will allow us to bring department heads to the MTC where they can see what more can be achieved with digital services, improved efficiencies and good value solutions,” said Greg Wells, chief information and digital officer at NSW Government.

“We expect there will be significant positive impact for citizens and businesses as well as operational efficiencies for Government.”