The Government indicated earlier this year it was keen to reduce its substantial IT costs by using cloud services, which means data from government departments is hosted off-site and by a third party.
Anyone operating a web email account, such as Gmail, Hotmail, or Yahoo!Mail, is already using cloud computing, albeit in a minor way.
At a conference in Auckland earlier this year, Microsoft revealed the Government wanted to use cloud computing but only if the servers were in New Zealand and there were two sites, so if one was compromised, the data was still available.
Softsource general manager Pablo Garcia-Curtis said in a teleconference the new $10 million facility in Albany, Auckland, was the first fully operational data centre in New Zealand to offer end-to-end HP converged infrastructure.
"Cloud services are changing the face of the technology landscape. By providing companies with the opportunity to utilise our 'infrastructure as a service' capabilities through the data centre, New Zealand organisations are now able to dynamically provision virtual resources from a remote location within minutes and be operational immediately."
Among the foundation clients were state-owned Genesis Energy, DB Breweries and Specsavers, he said.
Asked by the Otago Daily Times if Softsource was targeting other government departments to become clients, Mr Garcia-Curtis said it was, but he could not elaborate.
When pushed, he did confirm the company was in negotiations with the Government about providing the cloud services.
The Government is expected to switch to cloud storage in September, with the Department of Internal Affairs given the mandate to have 70% of government services "in the cloud" within five years.
There are 70 similar sorts of government edicts around the world but only five as advanced as the New Zealand Government's.
The Government spends about $2 billion a year on information and computer technology and with more than 160 chief information officers, there is a lot of duplication.
Mr Garcia-Curtis said the New Zealand economy was not immune to global economic pressures. Growth had slowed and although there were signs of recovery, business confidence was fragile.
Organisations had struggled to justify large-scale capital expenditure, particularly on IT projects, he said.
"Budgets are tight and we're finding customers have fewer people and less money to spend, but still need to achieve more.
"Part of the service we're putting together is the ability for people to expand their business without having a huge capital outlay."
The Christchurch earthquakes had provided timely, if unfortunate, evidence of the benefits of remote hosting, he said. For businesses based in the Christchurch central business district, the immediate aftermath meant loss of equipment and staff unable to travel into the office.
With business owners unclear about when insurance would pay out or how quickly the economy would recover, there was understandable caution about making long-term technology decisions.
With Softsource's new system, customers would be able to access infrastructure over the internet, Mr Garcia-Curtis said.
They could log on, decide what operating system they needed and how many users they wanted, and in 30 minutes, a business would be up and running.
Businesses of any size could use the server, paying for only what they used in storage, he said. Storage capacity was unlimited and there was a fully automated system.
"Clients can boost their processing power as needed, for example, at the end of the financial year, without needing to invest in new hardware which will sit unused over the following months," he said.
