Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group, announced the launch of its new datacentre in Dubai that will be operated by YVOLV, a joint venture between Alibaba Cloud and Meraas Holdings. This will be a regional public cloud hosted at a local datacentre, and will offer a portfolio of services to address demand for mission-critical, affordable and secure cloud computing in the Middle East.
Alibaba Cloud’s portfolio at the new datacentre will include IaaS cloud services including elastic computing, storage and databases, for all types of customers from SMEs, government, and enterprise.
The launch event included addresses by Ethan Yu, Vice President of Alibaba Group; Simon Hu, President of Alibaba Cloud; Mohammed Sharaf, Head of Joint Ventures at Meraas Holding; and Fahad Al Hajeri, Chief Executive Officer of YVOLV.
Alibaba Cloud’s Middle East datacentre was launched in conjunction with supporting vendor partners including Intel, Schneider Electric, China Telecom, Chinese Business Hub, Dmax International, Equinix.
Evidence of the potential of Alibaba Cloud can be seen during the recently completed 2016 11.11 Global Shopping Festival, where Alibaba Cloud technology supported all of Alibaba’s online marketplaces and facilitated a record-breaking 175,000 transactions per second during peak traffic spikes. The festival showcased the capabilities not only of the cloud, but also a number of other areas, such as virtual reality, thus helping to redefine technological boundaries.
In addition to the Dubai, Middle East datacentre, Alibaba Cloud, also announced opening of additional global datacentres by the end of 2016 in Europe, Australia and Japan. The new centers will boost its datacentre network to 14 locations, covering key economic centers around the world. The new facilities are based in four strategically important trading and economic centers to enable the ambitions to make it easy to do business anywhere. Each of the four will add significant value to the global network and expand horizons.
Europe
To support enterprises in Europe, Alibaba Cloud will partner with Vodafone Germany to open its first datacentre in Europe. The center is co-located in Vodafone’s data facilities in Frankfurt, Germany, one of the leading technology hubs in Europe with a highly developed infrastructure supporting technological innovation. The facility is well positioned to meet the increasing demand for sophisticated cloud computing services as the region seeks to accelerate the upgrade of its digital infrastructure.
Australia
Extending its global footprint in the Asia-Pacific, Alibaba Cloud will open a new datacentre in Sydney, Australia by the end of 2016. Alibaba Cloud will bring its most popular cloud services in data storage and processing services, enterprise-level middleware, and cloud security services to the Australian market. A dedicated team will be based in Australia, and build up a cloud ecosystem with local technology partners to drive cloud and big-data business in the region.
Japan
The Japan Datacentre, hosted by SB Cloud Corporation, a joint venture between Softbank and Alibaba Group, will provide Japanese enterprises with competitive and enhanced public cloud computing services from Alibaba Cloud. With the joint venture, Alibaba Cloud will further expand its cloud computing service platform by leveraging SoftBank’s extensive enterprise customer base in Japan.
Alibaba Cloud’s expansion will provide customers worldwide with improved latency and greater access to its diverse offerings, including data storage and analytics services, enterprise-level middleware, and cloud security services. Strengthening Alibaba Cloud’s position as a major global cloud provider, the new datacentres will support Alibaba Cloud’s growing client base beyond the current 2.3 million.
Through a stronger network of facilities and strategic partnerships, Alibaba Cloud also plans to drive a globalisation of innovation. The enhanced cloud capabilities make breakthrough innovation a real possibility with artificial intelligence, deep learning and data analytics. Since its launch, Alibaba Cloud’s technologies have enabled all types of businesses globally, ranging from start-ups to multi-national companies, to benefit from the greater operational and cost efficiency that cloud computing can provide.
“Alibaba Cloud has contributed significantly to China’s technology advancement, establishing critical commerce infrastructure to enable cross-border businesses, online marketplaces, payments, logistics, cloud computing and big data to work together seamlessly. We want to establish cloud computing as the digital foundation for the new global economy using the opportunities of cloud computing to empower businesses of all sizes across all markets,” said Simon Hu, President of Alibaba Cloud.
“The four new datacentres will further expand Alibaba Cloud’s global ecosystem and footprint, allowing us to meet the increasing demand for secure and scalable cloud computing services from businesses and industries worldwide. The true potential of data-driven digital transformation will be seen through globalisation and the opportunities brought by the new global economy will become a reality,” said Sicheng Yu, Vice President of Alibaba Group and General Manager of Alibaba Cloud Global.
YVOLV, was set up in 2015, as a technology joint venture between Meraas and Alibaba Cloud offering customised solutions in cloud computing, project based services, training and support. YVOLV also seeks to articulate the objectives outlined in the Dubai Smart City Initiative and the UAE Vision 2021.
YVOLV is based in, and operates out of, Dubai to provide customised products and functionalities to private companies and government institutions in the MENA region. Meraas is a Dubai-based holding company with operations and assets in the UAE. The company has established itself as a key innovator in UAE and follows a clear mandate to strengthen Dubai’s global position.
Through its portfolio of refreshingly innovative landmark concepts, Meraas aims to redefine industries across multiple sectors. Meraas has also forged collaborative relationships with key partners who will add value to its offering. The company has launched several projects in the property, hospitality, retail, leisure and entertainment, food and beverages, healthcare, residential and technology sectors.
Established in September 2009, Alibaba Cloud, Alibaba Group’s cloud computing arm, develops highly scalable platforms for cloud computing and data management. It provides a comprehensive suite of cloud computing services to support participants of Alibaba Group’s online and mobile commerce ecosystem, including sellers and other third-party customers and businesses. Alibaba Cloud is a business within Alibaba Group.
