Google announced Wednesday (Oct. 10) that it will launch its first African cloud region in South Africa.
The announcement was made by Niral Patel, the Director of Google Cloud in Africa, during today’s Google for Africa 2022 event.
“I am excited to officially announce our intent to open a Google cloud region in South Africa,” Patel said.
He added that the new region is expected to $2.1 billion to the country’s GDP and support the creation of over 40,000 jobs by 2030.
“Along with the cloud region, we are expanding our network through the Equiano Subsea Cable,” he continued.
The company will also build Dedicated Cloud Interconnect sites in Johannesburg, Capetown, Lagos and Nairobi. In doing this, Google is building “full-scale cloud capability for Africa,” Patel said.
Google Cloud currently has 34 regions in operation. The company has previously announced its plans to launch new regions in Doha (Qatar), Turin (Italy), Berlin (Germany), Dammam (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), Tel Aviv (Israel), Mexico, Malaysia, Thailand and New Zealand.
Google’s biggest competitors in the cloud provision market, Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure have already opened their own South African cloud regions in 2020 and 2019 respectively.
In other Google Cloud-related news, Alphabet recently completed its acquisition of cybersecurity and threat intelligence firm Mandiant, saying the purchase will bolster Google Cloud’s existing security portfolio and help enterprises with every component of the “security lifecycle.”
Read more: Google Finalizes $5.4B Mandiant Acquisition to Bolster Security Portfolio
In a post announcing the deal, Google stated that the new security technology it has acquired will give its cloud customers actionable insights gained from information about cyber threats and help them monitor their assets for exposure and gauge the effectiveness of their cybersecurity controls.
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