Alibaba Cloud may open second Dubai data centre
Thu 14 Dec 2017
Alibaba Cloud has announced that a second Dubai data centre is under consideration, to be built in 2018.
At a press event today for the celebration of the one-year anniversary of its first data centre in Dubai, Simon Hu, SVP of Alibaba Group and president of Alibaba Cloud, said that digital transformation in the region is growing enormously, and that additional capacity will be required to meet those needs.
“We see great potential here, and hope we can continue to bring our successful experiences that we have learnt in China to the UAE to make it a benchmark for digital transformation in the future,” he said.
The existing data centre, launched in November 2016, is the first full-fledged public cloud in Dubai, operated by a joint venture between Alibaba Cloud and Meraas Holdings called Yvolv.
The Alibaba Dubai data centre was created to provide scalable, cost-effective cloud services to public and enterprise customers in Dubai. Hu noted that Alibaba Cloud has helped to drive innovation and the transformation to a digital economy in the UAE, adding that as “it continues to evolve, we believe that inclusive cloud technology will play an important role across all of the region’s industry sectors.”
Alibaba Cloud’s business in Dubai represents a significant area of global expansion for the company, as well as strengthening trade relations between China and the UAE. At the press event, the company also announced that it has furthered its relationship with Khalifa University, to identify opportunities in emerging technologies including cloud computing, robotics, Big Data and the Internet of Things.
The company has also agreed to be a sponsor of the FIFA Club World Cup, taking place in Abu Dhabi this week.
While Alibaba Cloud has customers in several different industries in the area, Sandeep Chouhan, EVP of Mashreqbank, attended the press event to speak on his organization’s use of cloud technology applications.
“We see Alibaba as bringing intelligent capabilities to the region through their leadership in both Big Data and analytics. Their solutions go beyond just analyzing data, and instead solve real business problems based on their experiences in China.”
He added that Alibaba offers more than hosting services, with intelligent solutions, data analytics, machine learning and AI services available to customers as well.
