by Sylvester Addo | Jul 25, 2019 | General, Microsoft Gulf, Microsoft MEA
Oman Data Park (ODP) announces the deployment of Microsoft Azure Stack solutions in its facilities. The new partnership with Microsoft and Cisco will see the company offering Azure services on their data centers. Bringing customers cloud computing to build and deploy hybrid applications. Oman Data park plans to launch Azure Stack by September 2019.
CEO of ODP describes storing data locally as one key challenge the IT managed services provider company faced. The platform was jointly developed by engineering teams of Microsoft and Cisco to launch hybrid cloud offerings.
Sheikh Saif Hilal Al Hisni, Microsoft Country Manager Bahrain and Oman says this will propel the country forward on its Vision 2040 journey.
“As Oman Data Park works to move digital transformation forward across the sultanate, Microsoft will continue its commitment to the government, people and business community of Oman.
The ability to engage customers, empower employees, optimise operations and transform products and services will undoubtedly propel the country forward on its Vision 2040 journey.” – Sheikh Saif Hilal Al Hosni, Country Manager, Microsoft Bahrain & Oman
Cisco
“The ability to dynamically deliver business critical applications is a key requirement for all organisations in the age of digitization. Cloud computing is one of the main technologies driving this change. By deploying the Cisco Integrated System for Microsoft Azure Stack for the first time in Oman, ODP now has a comprehensive and pre-integrated cloud platform to accelerate service delivery and thus contribute to the development of the country’s digital economy.
This platform was jointly developed by the engineering teams of both Cisco and Microsoft and brings the agility and fast-paced innovation of cloud computing to on-premises environments.
Cisco has the breadth and depth of product and service offerings which have already been tested and consistently used for public, private and hybrid cloud solutions.
We are pleased that together we are able to put this cutting-edge platform at the disposal of ODP and its customers.” – Ali Al Lawati, General Manager Cisco Oman
by chrisdofdof | May 17, 2019 | General, Microsoft MEA
The private and hybrid Microsoft cloud delivers a cybersecurity step-change for East Africa’s data-sensitive organisations, providing a doorway to high-speed data safety.
Nairobi, 16th May 2019:
Liquid Telecom Kenya, part of the leading pan-African telecoms group Liquid Telecom, has today launched a Microsoft Cloud service in East Africa that offers a step-change in cybersecurity for the region’s most sensitive databases.
The new Azure Stack service will allow companies to run a private Microsoft cloud within East Africa, rather than at one of Microsoft’s 54 public data centres located outside the region. This means users benefit from the cutting-edge security protocols developed and run by Microsoft on its cloud platforms, while holding their data locally, which makes data uploading faster for databases that can be as large as one terabyte or more.
The service will be available from today across East Africa, hosted in private cloud nodes in Kenya and Tanzania, which makes it possible to replicate databases at different locations to increase reliability and flexibility.
“The data transmission time to Europe is around 200 milliseconds, and for the closest Microsoft cloud server, in South Africa, 55 milliseconds. But the new Azure Stacks in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam will mean data transfer speeds of less than 20 milliseconds for all users within East Africa,” said Winston Ritson, Group Head of Cloud Services for the Liquid Telecom Group.
This increase in speeds will transform back-ups and uploads from previously lengthy processes to swift data exchanges. Globally, companies have reported that this has transformed their operations. With one logistics company in California achieving a 50% improvement in service delivery on increased data speeds.
Using Azure Stack also opens the way to a level of cybersecurity that few organisations have the capacity to develop. “Microsoft spends some $1bn a year on ensuring the security of its Azure platforms. This is a scale of spend and professional attention that companies cannot match or surpass in securing their data,” said Winston.
This comes as East Africa’s data security continues to deteriorate. In 2017, Kenya lost over Sh21bn to cybercrime. But the nation’s losses are forecast to rise further on new cyber threats. Including attacks on built-in Windows IT admin tools, PowerShell files and Windows Scripting executables.
“Developing the Azure Stack in East Africa has required intensive development and co-operation between Liquid Telecom and Microsoft.” said Adil El Youssefi, CEO East Africa, Liquid Telecom. “However, we believe that in offering a now unequalled level of cybersecurity, it has delivered yet another vital pillar to the economic development of Kenya and East Africa.”
by Sylvester Addo | Oct 11, 2018 | General, Microsoft Egypt
Microsoft Egypt and Link Datacenter introduce the availability of Azure Stack hybrid Cloud services to Businesses in Egypt
Link Datacenter and Microsoft Egypt have partnered to deliver Microsoft’s Azure stack services to the Egyptian market. Link Datacenter will become the first provider offering the hybrid Cloud Services through their Datacenters in Egypt.
Microsoft Azure Stack is a hybrid cloud platform that lets you deliver Microsoft Azure services in your datacenter. Azure Stack is an extension of Azure that brings agility and innovation of cloud computing to an on-premises environment. It allows you to build and deploy hybrid applications anywhere. Microsoft says it brings together the best of the edge and cloud to deliver Azure services anywhere in your environment.
It is one of the latest innovation in Microsoft’s line of cloud infrastructure solutions. A hybrid hosting solution and an extension to Azure Public Cloud Computing Services. Confined to a geographical location, allowing enterprises to overcome limitations set by regulatory, data sovereignty policies or latency issues. It also easily connects with Azure cloud for integration with your cloud data and applications. It comes packed with important features that enhance the security, efficiency and agility of any enterprise.
Azure Stack offers a ground breaking solution
Speaking about the advantages Ahmed El Salmy, Microsoft Egypt Cloud Business Group Lead said “Azure Stack will offer a ground breaking solution; localized applications, data hosting and services, but still enjoy the benefits and features of Azure Cloud Services.”
Speaking to a reporter of Daily News Egypt, Ahmed El Salmy said Microsoft Azure stack is suitable for many government institutions in Egypt that wish to keep their data within the country. It is also suitable for critical sectors in terms of security. He also shares his believe for the growth of the cloud computing market in Egypt.
Gamal Selim, Link Datacenter CEO says “Clients who can’t migrate to the cloud due to security or data regulations can easily move their applications and data to Azure Stack which can easily connect to any application they have on Azure cloud. Using Azure stack omits any problems with latency because they are connected via a dedicated data line, it also heightens the security of their infrastructure because nothing is accessible through the internet. Using Azure stack improves the agility, scalability, and reduces your total cost of ownership because you only pay for what you use and don’t need to invest in costly local data centers.”
