Australasian tech company Datacom has become a Strategic Refresh Initiative (SRI) partner for Windows 11 in Australia and New Zealand after signing an agreement with Microsoft. The company becomes one of only 21 SRI partners globally and one of only a few in the Southern Hemisphere.
Datacom says Microsoft selected it as an SRI partner for Australia and New Zealand because of its decades-long track record as a technology partner to private sector and government organisations across the ANZ market and its experience with large-scale migrations and device renewals for a wide range of customers.
Earlier this year, Microsoft confirmed an October 2025 end-of-support date for Windows 10, after which it will no longer provide security updates or technical support for the older operating system.
“In Australia and New Zealand alone, there are millions of enterprise devices in active use that can’t be upgraded to Windows 11,” said Datacom’s Acting Managing Director Mike Fuller. “The focus for our team is helping businesses and government agencies make the shift to Windows 11 ahead of that end-of-support date, without disruption to their day-to-day operations and with a real opportunity to benefit from the features and capability offered by the new OS.”
The new OS’s benefits include advanced security features, better performance driven by specialised hardware such as Neural Processing Units (NPUs) that optimise AI tasks, improved collaboration, and enhanced productivity, with Copilot+ PCs coming with built-in AI tools to streamline tasks and find information quickly.
“We want to help businesses migrate to Windows 11 well ahead of time,” said Fuller. “Organisations face a lot of competing priorities for resource and budgets, and it would be easy to put this on the agenda for ‘next year,’ but we’re encouraging businesses to start the process now so they have time to make considered decisions, identify any hardware upgrades they need to support the new OS and create realistic timelines for procurement and implementation. Our team can help with that entire process,”
Datacom also has a dedicated Intelligent Devices practice with a team that can assess an organisation’s fleet, make data-based recommendations on the software and hardware that offer the best fit for the business, and provide support around circularity requirements.
“With every organisation across ANZ being challenged to boost productivity, no one wants to lose valuable time or data because their software is no longer supported,” said Microsoft’s Chris Bright. “But also, no one wants to miss out on the productivity gains offered by some of the new AI tools, which are baked into the latest PCs. What Datacom is offering is a hassle-free opportunity to modernise and level up your capabilities – not just avoid falling behind, but to really get ahead of the game.”
Fuller notes that organisations that do not upgrade to Windows 11 before the end of support date could face security, governance and compliance issues. “Organisations will also find there are issues around sourcing the right PCs and hardware if they leave it too late,” he said.
Some PCs currently in use will not be able to migrate to Windows 11, and businesses will also need to decide whether to adopt AI-ready PCs that can fully support AI functions and applications.
Datacom has secured a range of devices for companies needing to address compatibility issues or looking for high-performance hardware to support the full functionality of Windows 11.
“We are delighted to be working with our device partners, Dell, HP and Lenovo, as well as our silicon partners, Intel, AMD and Qualcomm, to deliver the best experiences for our customers as they make this shift to the future with us,” Fuller adds.
There are three options for organisations looking to make the move to Windows 11:
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Upgrade their current in-situ PCs if they are compatible with Windows 11;
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Purchase new PCs with Windows 11 preinstalled, which may be a good option for the two-thirds of Kiwi and Australian organisations using AI; and
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Advance to the highest performance with new Copilot+ PCs, which come with powerful new AI capabilities built-in.
For organisations looking to upgrade hardware as part of the Windows 11 migration, Datacom will work with teams to implement more sustainable IT asset management by ensuring asset visibility, getting provisioning right, and managing devices across their lifecycle to reduce waste.
