Arq Group, the leading Australian managed cloud and mobile solution provider, today announced it has achieved Amazon Web Services Managed Service Provider Partner status. Arq Group is the first AWS Premier Consulting Partner in Australia to achieve this important accreditation.”Passing the audit process of the AWS Managed Service Program is a validation of the continued evolution of Arq Group’s Managed Services and Professional Services capabilities that have been delivering value to customers in Australia for over 19 years,” said Steve McCormick, Director of Cloud Practice – Arq Group. “The accreditation provides our customers with the assurance that their solutions are designed and managed to realise the benefits of public cloud services.”

The AWS Managed Service Program is designed for Amazon Partner Network (APN) Consulting Partners which are skilled at cloud infrastructure and application migration. Arq Group successfully passed the rigorous, 100-point third-party audit created by AWS that validates how Arq Group architects, builds, integrates, operates, optimises, and provides security across the breadth of AWS services. It provides customers with an independent assessment of a partner’s ability to drive continuous innovation, support AWS adoption, deliver security, embrace DevOps and provide excellence in customer management.

“This program highlights our security certifications with ISO 27001 and ISO 9001, as well as our experience in delivering solutions to PCI DSS and IRAP standards. This demonstrates the breadth of Arq Group’s capability to offer both consultancy and managed services for cloud adoption, application migration, hybrid cloud implementations and cloud optimised application development,” said Mr McCormick.

The audit specifically mentioned a number of Arq Group strengths including:

• ISO 27001 and ISO 9001 certification;
• The presence of an AWS best practice advisor within Arq Group, with strong adoption of AWS best practices and implementing them in customer’s solution proposal whenever possible;
• Strong application development to offer complete customised customer solutions including the hybrid model;
• A high security focus, meeting the Australian Signals Directorate’s IRAP (InfoSec Registered Assessors Program) security process for bidding on government contracts;
• Strong Professional Services and consultancy;
• Growing AWS business and investment;

“AWS has created an audit that goes beyond simple infrastructure management and assesses end-to-end capability in the delivery of business operation, security and risk management. This important agreement with AWS will help Arq Group’s customers in their adoption of cloud based services as they evolve through the cloud adoption model,” said Mr McCormick. “It validates that Arq Group has the right certifications, tooling, experience, agility and scale to align with the largest of enterprises seeking cloud operations expertise and to deliver strong business value to organisations.”

The AWS Managed Service Program was introduced at the AWS re:Invent event in November 2014. The program is designed for Amazon Partner Network (APN) Consulting Partners who are skilled at cloud infrastructure and application migration, and who deliver value to customers by offering proactive monitoring, security, DevOps, automation, and streamlined management of their customers’ environment. Arq Group has been an official partner of AWS since 2012, and is one of only 36 AWS Premier Consulting Partners worldwide. It currently provides the benefits of its managed cloud solutions to some of Australia’s leading enterprise and government customers. In addition to being a Premier Consulting Partner and being awarded Managed Service Partner status, Arq Group holds additional AWS partner designations including Authorised Government Partner and Channel Reseller.