Acronis set to launch its first cloud data centre in Dubai; a first for the GCC region
Acronis, a global leader in cyberprotection, is poised to launch its first cloud data centre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, making it also its first such facility in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.
Part of an initiative to deploy 111 new geographically-distributed data centres across the globe over a five-year period, the new Acronis data centre in Dubai is due to be followed by a similar new facility in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – to offer regional managed service providers’ (MSP) clients easier and faster access to cyberprotection solutions, constant data availability, and iron-clad data sovereignty.
Having gone live in January 2022 and March 2023 respectively, Johannesburg in South Africa and Toronto in Canada are Acronis’ latest additions to its 50+ global network of data centres located across the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Asia-Pacific and Africa.
Acronis’ data centres host data and cloud products, and guarantee MSPs and their clients the highest levels of safety, security, and accessibility.
Regional compliance
As with the MSP-first company’s other such facilities, the UAE and Saudi data centres will offer regional and local service providers a country-specific location where they can store business-critical data for their clients while also benefitting from the managed cloud solutions and cyberprotection solutions available to them via the Acronis cyber cloud platform.
Acronis’ decision to deploy two dedicated data centres in the GCC region comes as the global data centre industry flourishes as new markets – including the Middle East and Africa region – emerge, while others steadily expand operations. Across the world, more and more data centres are depending on cloud and SaaS providers to develop more streamlined, secure, efficient and future-proof operations.
According to the Equinix 2022 Global Tech Trends Survey as the digital economy grows, companies are leveraging the many benefits of cloud services and interconnection to help them successfully transform, even as 47% of global technology companies plan to use the cloud to facilitate their global expansion plans.
Fruitful partnerships
With service providers, and in turn, their clients across the GCC region increasingly concerned about data sovereignty and the need to have such data stored geographically in specific countries in the region Acronis has been entering collaborations with leading globally renowned data storage providers, including Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, Oracle Cloud, and Alibaba Cloud, according to Muhamed Khaled, Supervisor (MEA) & Senior Solutions Engineer (Middle East), Acronis.
In an exclusive interview with Middle East 247 at Gulf Information Security Expo & Conference (GISEC), held at Dubai World Trade Centre (March 14-16, 2023). Khaled said by virtue of Acronis tying up with established global data centre providers a Bahrain-based client can use the Acronis cyber console in Germany while enjoying the benefit of having their data stored at the AWS data centre in Bahrain itself.
As such, Acronis’ clients can opt which region or data centre to store their data in, for connectivity requirements, and also to ensure compliance with regional and other local privacy and data protection regulations and requirements for data storage, as in the case of GDPR.
“The top priority right now is to deploy our own data centre in Dubai, and very soon, in Riyadh too. Bit by bit, we are integrating every vendor in the region to our exciting new data centre proposition,” said Khaled.
With the imminent commissioning of its new data centre in Dubai, and subsequently, in Riyadh, Acronis – valued at $3.5 billion – will deploy three data centres in the Middle East, adding to the existing one in Tel Aviv, Israel.
The global data centre sector was valued at $189 billion in 2021 and is projected to grow to $518 billion in just 10 years, with a 10.5% CAGR from 2021 to 2030.
Last Updated on 1 year by Arnold Pinto
