News

Microsoft Expands Its Cloud Footprint into Africa

Microsoft is significantly extending the reach of its cloud-based services by building new datacenters in South Africa, the company announced recently.

The plans include providing Dynamics 365, Azure and Office 365 services from "datacenters located in Johannesburg and Cape Town" beginning sometime next year, according to an announcement last week by Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of Microsoft's Cloud and Enterprise Group.

The services will be "enterprise grade," and Microsoft also plans to offer "data residency." The data residency qualification refers to legal requirements by some governments that data be stored within a given country or region. It's a requirement across European Union countries, for instance.

The buildout in South Africa will bolster Microsoft's overall infrastructure to "40 cloud regions around the world," according to the announcement. Microsoft claimed that its region count is "more than any other cloud provider."

Microsoft's Azure service regions can be seen at this page, which also shows the proposed datacenters in "South Africa North" and "South Africa West." Microsoft's Office 365 and Dynamics CRM Online regions are shown at this page, although the company won't disclose precise locations.

Microsoft claimed in another announcement that it is already providing some cloud services in Africa: "Across Africa, Microsoft has brought 728,000 small and mid-size enterprises (SMEs) online to help them transform and modernize their businesses, and over 500,000 are now utilizing Microsoft cloud services, with 17,000 using the 4Afrika hub to promote and grow their businesses."

The new buildout in South Africa is expected to open new opportunities for Microsoft's partners, too. Microsoft currently has "17,000 regional partners and customers alike" in Africa, according to the announcement.

All told, Microsoft is claiming to provide services to "over a billion customers and 20 million businesses around the globe."

About the Author

Kurt Mackie is senior news producer for 1105 Media's Converge360 group.

Featured

  • IBM Giving Orgs a Governance Lifeline in Agentic AI Era

    Nearly overnight, organizations are facing brand-new challenges caused by self-directed AI systems (a.k.a. agentic AI). Big Blue is extending them some help.

  • Microsoft Launches Integrated E-mail Security Ecosystem for Defender for Office 365

    Microsoft is expanding its e-mail security capabilities with the launch of a new Integrated Cloud Email Security (ICES) ecosystem for Microsoft Defender for Office 365.

  • Microsoft Joins Workday's AI Agent Partner Network

    Microsoft has become a key partner in Workday's newly launched AI Agent Partner Network, aligning with other industry leaders to integrate AI agents into enterprise workforce systems.

  • LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky To Lead Microsoft's Productivity Initiatives

    In a strategic leadership realignment, Microsoft has appointed LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky to oversee its consumer and small business productivity software division, encompassing Microsoft 365, Teams and AI-driven tools like Copilot.