16 Mar Microsoft Makes Headway With New UAE Data Centres

Why is everyone excited?

Following hot on the heels of the Africa data centre developments, Microsoft announced the launch of two new data centres in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). What’s exciting about this is that it’s a direct response to the region’s significant demand for digital transformation. Public sector customers have expressed a strong need for local data residency which can now be met.

Peter Sondergaard, Executive VP & Global Head of Research at Gartner, made an interesting observation. He found that Cloud spending in MENA (Middle-East and North Africa) is currently among the lowest in the world when measured as a percentage of total IT spend. He further commented that the lack of local hyper- and large-scale data centres limit cloud adoption among businesses in the region.

Microsoft clearly sees opportunity in emerging cloud markets like Africa and Middle-East. This move could be seen as a reflection of their commitment to developing those IT ecosystems. The Microsoft CSP channel model is maturing and just about completing its natural challenges of early-stage development. Room for expansion into other markets is now available and being embraced wholeheartedly. Microsoft can be confident that the channel model, together with local data centre presence, will realise significant revenue growth.