Oracle, a cloud infrastructure firm, says it has opened a data centre in South Africa — its first cloud region in Africa to meet the rapidly growing demand for enterprise cloud services.
It announced this in a statement on Wednesday, joining the likes of Microsoft and Amazon in setting up facilities on the continent.
This opening marks Oracle’s 37th cloud region worldwide — with plans to have at least 44 cloud regions by the end of 2022.
“The fourth industrial revolution, which is powered by cloud-led technologies, has significantly accelerated in South Africa and the wider African continent,” Richard Smith, executive vice president, EMEA, Oracle, said.”
Mark Walker, associate vice president, Sub-Saharan Africa, International Data Corporation (IDC), said 60 percent of organisations in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria are planning to adopt cloud over the next 12-18 months.
“Public cloud services adoption is accelerating at CAGR of 25 percent year on year between 2020 and 2025 in Sub-Saharan Africa, and IDC projects that the growth momentum will continue,” Walker said.
“Role of cloud in enabling innovation is underscored by the priority organisations have given to it as part of their digital transformation initiatives.
“Cloud-based technologies have helped organisations weather the COVID-19 crisis, and the cloud is now helping them build resilient organisations that can withstand uncertainties. The Johannesburg region will boost regional cloud infrastructure availability.”
– The Cable