Microsoft Azure, data centres coming to Cape Town and Johannesburg in 2018

Microsoft South Africa today announced its Azure Cloud servers and services are finally heading to the country.

Previously, African companies relied on data centres beyond the continent’s landmass to use the cloud, but the new servers — which will be located in Cape Town and Johannesburg — will be a much shorter digital trip for cloud traffic.

“Microsoft will deliver cloud services, including Microsoft Azure, Office 365, and Dynamics 365,” the company states in a blog post.

While the company’s marketing towards businesses and economic growth are clear, the company didn’t mention gaming in its announcement. Sorry Crackdown fans.

Microsoft instead explains that the data centres will “offer enterprise-grade reliability and performance combined with data residency to help enable the tremendous opportunity for economic growth”.

Executive VP of cloud and enterprise Scott Guthrie also hopes that the data centres will act as a “catalyst for new economic opportunities”.

“With cloud services ranging from intelligent collaboration to predictive analytics, the Microsoft Cloud delivered from Africa will enable developers to build new and innovative apps, customers to transform their businesses, and governments to better serve the needs of their citizens,” he adds.

The new data centres on the African continent will add to Redmond’s 38 sites across the globe.

The Cape Town- and Johannesburg-based centres are expected to be operational in early 2018.