Launching New Zealand’s first dedicated Microsoft Azure-enabled hybrid cloud platform saw Revera take top spot in the hotly contested cloud hosting category at the Microsoft Partner Awards hosted in Auckland last Friday.

Called Apollo, Revera’s Azure-enabled cloud platform provides a single ecosystem to mix and match client workloads locally and across the globe.

Award recipient and Revera’s head of innovation Keith Archibald said the award recognised a close working relationship with Microsoft and the benefits of participating in the vendor’s COSN (Cloud OS Network) programme - recently renamed Microsoft Azure Certified for Hybrid Cloud - of which Revera was the foundation member in New Zealand.

“Revera Apollo targets the opportunity COSN was created to address: enabling in-country hybrid cloud capability to accelerate the adoption of Microsoft cloud services, in particular Azure,” he said.

Archibald said Apollo had caught the attention of DevOps teams, who required more nimble platforms to support cloud native applications and blend Azure capabilities with applications delivered from New Zealand.

“Clients have a fast maturing view of cloud commercials and demand better self-service control and more flexible consumption,” said Archibald.

Earlier this year Revera Apollo was certified for the New Zealand Government All-of-Government (AoG) common capability platform, paving the way for government agencies to manage off-shore and onshore workloads from a New Zealand launch pad.

“Clients expect to work in a multi-cloud world, but still value dealing with a single partner who can guide workload management and optimise configuration. Where we help is with interconnected platforms and tools that provide the best of both worlds: a blend of public cloud services and private, locally-based options in one ecosystem,” he said.