Telstra to train over 4000 staff in AWS with its own 'cloud guild'

Telstra is setting up its own ‘cloud guild’ with the aim of training more than 4000 of its staff on AWS cloud by 2025.

Cloud ‘guilds’ or internal ‘academies’ have previously sprung up at the likes of NAB, IAG, PEXA, Kmart Australia and the Telstra-owned telco Belong.

Telstra’s own cloud guild is being formed under a “strategic collaboration agreement” with AWS.

The guild is described as “a tailored training program which aims to train more than 4000 employees on AWS cloud by 2025.” 

“This will enable Telstra to empower employees to apply innovative, cloud-first thinking to accelerate adoption and drive digital transformation,” it said.

“The training will build on the significant expertise Telstra Purple already has as an advanced tier partner in the AWS Partner Network.”

Telstra Purple is the telco’s IT services business.

More broadly, Telstra said it would use the "strategic collaboration agreement" with AWS would lead to the establishment of a joint centre of excellence (CoE) “to help mid-market, enterprise, and government organisations with their digital transformation by harnessing the latest in cloud technology.”

The two companies will also collaborate under a separate "framework agreement" on edge compute solutions that in some way take advantage of Telstra’s networks, particularly 5G.

Telstra has made no secret of its desire to repurpose telephone exchange buildings as edge compute hubs.

Through the new partnership, “AWS and Telstra will plan how to integrate AWS edge compute solutions with Telstra’s multi-access network”, the two firms said.

This could occur by “integrating AWS’s edge compute solutions and Telstra’s 5G network, enabling application traffic from 5G devices to reach cloud services running in edge compute locations without leaving the Telstra network.”