Starting the new year strong! Microsoft recently made official plans to launch a new datacenter region in Israel. This new region will launch in 2021, with good old Azure to be the first service available.
The Office 365 service will follow shortly after.
This move will mean that the Azure platform will have its infrastructure available in a remarkable 56 cloud regions in 21 countries.
Redmond shared this new in an announcement detailing how it is expanding its network by investing in comparatively smaller countries — including the likes of Germany and Switzerland, both of which saw action last year.
Michel van der Bel, President of Microsoft for Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA):
“When I speak to customers across EMEA, it is clear that the power of the cloud is essential for their competitiveness. 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 datacenter 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.”
Of course, the primary benefit of this move is that it will enable Microsoft to deliver its intelligent, trusted cloud services through a local data center in Israel. Thereby making it easy for companies to comply with data residency regulations in the country.
Yet, at the same time, Microsoft believes that it will be able to assist startups via the various programs and initiatives it has already launched in Israel through Microsoft for Startups.
