Microsoft has announced plans to establish the company’s first cloud region in Israel to deliver its intelligent, trusted cloud services through a local data centre region.
This investment expands the Microsoft global cloud infrastructure to 56 cloud regions in 21 countries, with the new Israel region anticipated to be available starting with Microsoft Azure in 2021, with Office 365 to follow. The new Israel region will adhere to Microsoft’s trusted cloud principles and become part of one of the largest cloud infrastructures in the world, already serving more than a billion customers and 20 million businesses.
Azure is an ever-expanding set of cloud services that offers computing, networking, databases, analytics and Internet of Things (IoT) services. The investment in a new Israel data centre region will enable customers to use the most advanced technologies and adhere to data residency requirements to store data within Israel.
Microsoft’s cloud services are also compliant with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and are certified for an industry-leading portfolio of international security and privacy standards. Azure will enable the local Israeli ecosystem to build on the latest advancements in the cloud, helping organisations drive their Digital Transformation. Office 365, a leading cloud-based productivity solution, will be available from the new data centre region, helping customers enable the modern workplace and empower their employees with real-time collaboration and cloud-powered intelligence while maintaining security, compliance and in-country customer data residency.
“When I speak to customers across EMEA, it is clear that the power of the cloud is essential for their competitiveness,” said Michel van der Bel, President, Microsoft Europe, Middle East and Africa. “We have made significant infrastructure investments in the region and with this announcement, our planned region in Israel will join a growing number of EMEA markets recently made available including Germany, Norway, South Africa and Switzerland. Offering Microsoft Azure and Office 365 from a data centre region in Israel forms a key part of our investment and involvement in the startup nation, as infrastructure is an essential building block for the tech intensity that public sector entities and businesses need to embrace.”
Ronit Atad, General Manager, Microsoft Israel, said: “Microsoft has made a strategic decision to invest in the Israeli market. This investment marks an extremely important milestone in the company’s engagement with the startup nation, as we recently marked the 30th anniversary of our presence in the country. Public sector entities, enterprise companies and developers will have access to scalable, highly available and resilient cloud services to accelerate their Digital Transformation journeys. This will help them better engage customers, empower employees, optimise operations and transform products and services from the new cloud region in Israel. Microsoft Israel is partnering with those organisations to ensure their success on their Digital Transformation journey.”
Establishing new data centre regions entails significant investment of resources and this announcement reinforces the continuous commitment of Microsoft to the Israeli market.
