Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 53 | Page 75

/////////////////////////////////////////////////// t cht lk THE CRITICALITY OF CLOUD DATA MANAGEMENT As cloud providers ramp up their presence in the Middle East, organisations are looking to utilise multi cloud models for business benefits. But this presents new challenges. Claude Schuck, Regional Manager, Middle East at Veeam, tells us why organisations should act now to enable a strong digital foundation, ensuring data is backed up and always available. The advent of cloud, scale and hosted pay-as-you-grow services are finally upon us. The two major cloud providers, Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have put down large investments and opened data centres in the Middle East. In June this year, Microsoft brought online two United Arab Emirates (UAE) regions – in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, enabling government agencies and businesses to comply with local regulations by providing data residency in the UAE for its Azure and Office 365 services. A little over a month later at the end of July, AWS announced the expansion of its global footprint with the opening of the AWS Middle East (Bahrain) Region. The announcement stated that ‘developers, start-ups and enterprises, as well as government, education and non-profit organisations can start using the new AWS Middle East Region to run applications and serve end-users across the Middle East.’ We are facing exciting times ahead with the launch of these public cloud providers in the Middle East, which will undoubtedly provide an impetus for regional companies to better integrate cloud into their strategies. Organisations will be more comfortable with consuming these services now that “ WE ARE FACING EXCITING TIMES AHEAD WITH THE LAUNCH OF THESE PUBLIC CLOUD PROVIDERS IN THE MIDDLE EAST. www.intelligentcio.com INTELLIGENTCIO 75