Today, Google has announced that its new cloud region in South Africa is now operational. This development comes a year after the tech behemoth chose Johannesburg as its inaugural site on the African continent.
Cloud regions facilitate users in deploying cloud resources from particular geographic locations or nearer to the customers, offering them a range of services encompassing cloud storage, compute engine and key management systems.
According to Google, the region of Johannesburg will have a substantial role in supplying the essential resources that businesses require to expand, innovate, and be competitive in the global marketplace.
After prophesying it in 2022, Google has today announced the development of its Dedicated Cloud Interconnect sites in Nairobi (Kenya), Lagos (Nigeria), and South Africa (Cape Town and Johannesburg). These sites use Google’s private subsea cable, Equiano, to bridge users’ on-premise networks and Google’s framework, offering comprehensive cloud capabilities to its African clients and partners.
“Like all Google Cloud regions, the Johannesburg region is connected to Google’s secure network, comprising a system of high-capacity fiber optic cables under land and sea around the world. This includes the recently-completed Equiano subsea cable system that connects Portugal with Togo, Nigeria, Namibia, South Africa, and St. Helena,” Google Cloud Africa director, Niral Patel said in a statement today.
A study by AlphaBeta Economics, commissioned by Google Cloud, indicates that by 2030, the South African cloud region could contribute over $2.1 billion to South Africa’s GDP and facilitate more than 40,000 jobs.
In light of data sovereignty issues, Patel added that in 2022, the cloud region would provide its consumers and partners the choice of where to stock their data and which regions to employ to access its cloud services. The ability to pick where to hold their data is becoming increasingly essential, especially as countries like Kenya enforce privacy and data laws that necessitate firms to store and process data collected inside their borders using local servers.
Now boasting 40 cloud regions and 106 zones globally, Google joins the club of tech giants like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Oracle that have established cloud regions in South Africa.
