Amazon to open data centres in Africa
Amazon, the largest internet retailer on earth and a major player in the cloud computing world, has announced that Amazon Web Services (AWS) will soon open data centres in South Africa.
The new AWS Africa Region will be located in Cape Town and consist of three data centres which will enable more African organisations to drive innovation by leveraging advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and mobile services.
Local AWS customers will be able to store their data in South Africa with the assurance that their content will not move without consent.
In addition those looking to comply with the upcoming Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) will have access to secure infrastructure that meets the most rigorous international compliance standards.
The data centres, set to be launched in the first half of 2020, will be among a series of AWS investments in South Africa. In 2004, Amazon opened a development centre in Cape Town where the focus includes building pioneering networking technologies and next generation software for customer support. In 2015, AWS opened an office in Johannesburg, and in 2017 brought the Amazon Global Network to Africa through AWS Direct Connect.
Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon Web Services, said: ͞”Having built the original version of Amazon EC2 in our Cape Town development centre 14 years ago, and with thousands of African companies using AWS for years, we’ve been able to witness first-hand the technical talent and potential in Africa.”
