With the general availability of Azure from the new cloud regions in Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa.
This makes Microsoft the first global provider to deliver cloud services from data centres on the continent
image: A Microsoft data center in Cheyenne, Wyo. (Microsoft Photo)
Kudos to IWEC Foundation Partner, Microsoft, for this forward-thinking move!
DURBAN – Microsoft has announced the opening of its first data centres in Africa, with the general availability of Azure from the new cloud regions in Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa.
This makes Microsoft the first global provider to deliver cloud services from data centres on the continent, which will help companies securely and reliably move their businesses to the cloud while meeting compliance needs.
“Microsoft Azure is now available from our new cloud regions in Cape Town and Johannesburg. The combination of Microsoft’s global cloud infrastructure with the new regions in Africa will create greater economic opportunity for organisations in Africa, accelerate new global investment, and improve access to cloud and internet services,” said Yousef Khalidi, corporate vice president, Azure Networking, Microsoft.
Ibrahim Youssry, general manager, North, West, East, Central Africa, Levant & Pakistan, Microsoft said, “Today is a milestone moment in bringing the global cloud closer to home for African citizens and businesses. Enterprises across Africa can now take full advantage of the many benefits of Microsoft Azure, using cloud services to maintain security and meet compliance standards”.
According to the Cloud Africa 2018 report, cloud use among medium to large organisations in Africa has more than doubled between 2013 and 2018. Due to the benefits of cloud in offering efficiency and scalability, more than 90 percent of surveyed companies in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria have plans to increase their spending on cloud computing in the next year.
