Microsoft has announced the launch of its first data center regions in the Middle East. Both Azure and Office 365 are now generally available from the tech giant’s first cloud data center regions in the Middle East, located in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Dynamics 365 and Power Platform, offering the next generation of intelligent business applications and tools, are anticipated to be available from the cloud regions in UAE by the end of 2019.
“The opening of the new cloud regions in Abu Dhabi and Dubai marks the first time Microsoft will deliver cloud services directly from datacenter locations in UAE and expands upon Microsoft’s existing investments in the Gulf and the wider Middle East region,” the company wrote in the blog post. “By delivering the complete Microsoft cloud – Azure, Office 365, and Dynamics 365 – from data centers in a given geography, we offer scalable, highly available, and resilient cloud services for organizations while helping them meet their data residency, security, and compliance needs.”
Microsoft first announced plans for Middle East data centers last March. Competitors Google and AWS have also announced their plans about opening a cloud region in the Middle East. Microsoft beat out the two cloud giants to become the first of the big three to open data centers in the Middle East.
“It made sense for us to base our first Middle East data centers in the UAE to capitalize on the position the country has achieved. We’ve had a lot of demand from customers, whether it’s government or the commercial sector, for data centers that are close to them,” Sayed Hashish, general manager for Microsoft Gulf, told Gulf News.
According to Microsoft, local data center infrastructure stimulates economic development for both customers and partners alike. The company believes that the cloud services delivered from the UAE to have a positive impact on job creation, entrepreneurship, and economic growth across the region. Microsoft has recently opened its first data centers in Africa. The company is also launching data centers in Switzerland, France, and Germany.
