Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) company, today announced the establishment of its second region in the Middle East, the AWS Middle East (UAE) Region. Starting today, developers, startups, entrepreneurs and corporations, as well as governmental, educational and non-profit organizations, can even better run their applications from data centers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and serve their end customers there with advanced AWS technologies to drive innovation. AWS anticipates that planned spending to build and operate in the new region will create an average of nearly 6,000 full-time external vendor jobs annually, with USD 5 billion (AED 20 billion) of investment planned in the local economy by 2036. The AWS Middle East (UAE) Region is also expected to contribute US$11 billion (AED41 billion) to the UAE’s gross domestic product (GDP) over the next 15 years. For more information about AWS global infrastructure, seeaws.amazon.com/about-aws/global-infrastructure .
“AWS is committed to helping UAE customers deploy the most advanced cloud technologies and achieve the highest levels of security, availability, and resiliency,” said Prasad Kalyanaraman, Vice President of Infrastructure Services at AWS. “With the establishment of the AWS Middle East (UAE) Region, we are enabling even more customers to harness the power of the cloud to drive innovation in the UAE. At the same time, we are investing in the local economy through job creation, training for in-demand technological skills and educational resources to further support the UAE’s strategic priorities.”
“The opening of the AWS Middle East (UAE) Region is an important milestone for Abu Dhabi and the UAE as a whole and demonstrates our efforts to create opportunities for all,” said His Excellency Mohamed Ali Al Shorafa, Chairman of the Ministry of Economic Development from Abu Dhabi. “It reinforces Abu Dhabi’s ambition to position itself as a leading digital economic powerhouse by using cutting-edge technology to support business growth. We anticipate that AWS’s expanded cloud capabilities will bring significant benefits and efficiencies that can propel businesses to prosper and bring great economic benefits to the country.”
Also Read: Buyer Reviews Could be a great B2B Marketing Strategy
With the introduction of the AWS Middle East (UAE) Region, AWS has 87 Availability Zones in 27 geographic regions. There are plans to introduce 21 more Availability Zones and seven more AWS Regions in Australia, Canada, India, Israel, New Zealand, Spain and Switzerland. AWS Regions are composed of Availability Zones that house infrastructure in separate and distinct geographic locations. The AWS Middle East (UAE) Region consists of three Availability Zones and joins the existing AWS Middle East (Bahrain) Region, which was established in July 2019. The Availability Zones are far enough apart to ensure customers’ business continuity, but close enough to provide low latency for high-availability applications, using multiple availability zones. Each availability zone has independent power, cooling, and physical security. The zones are interconnected via redundant ultra-low latency networks. AWS customers who prioritize high availability can design their applications to operate in different availability zones for even greater resiliency. The establishment of the AWS Middle East (UAE) Region will give local customers with data residency requirements the ability to securely store data in the UAE while serving even lower latency customers across the country. The zones are interconnected via redundant ultra-low latency networks. AWS customers who prioritize high availability can design their applications to operate in different availability zones for even greater resiliency. The establishment of the AWS Middle East (UAE) Region will give local customers with data residency requirements the ability to securely store data in the UAE while serving even lower latency customers across the country. The zones are interconnected via redundant ultra-low latency networks. AWS customers who prioritize high availability can design their applications to operate in different availability zones for even greater resiliency. The establishment of the AWS Middle East (UAE) Region will give local customers with data residency requirements the ability to securely store data in the UAE while serving even lower latency customers across the country.
AWS plans to invest an estimated US$5 billion (AED 20 billion) in the UAE over the next 15 years via the new AWS Middle East (UAE) region. This total includes capital expenditures for building data centers, operational costs associated with ongoing utility and facility costs, and the purchase of goods and services from local businesses. The investments are estimated to create an average of almost 6,000 jobs per year during this period. These jobs will be part of the AWS supply chain in the UAE, including construction, facility maintenance, engineering, telecom and employment across the country’s economy.
“Abu Dhabi is committed to delivering transformative technology that empowers businesses and residents alike,” said Eng. Abdulla Abdul Aziz AlShamsi, Acting Director General of Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO). “Smart infrastructure is the engine of thriving private and public sectors, opening new economic opportunities, fostering inclusive growth and opening opportunities for collaboration in our innovation ecosystem. At ADIO, we are helping to strengthen Abu Dhabi’s position as a pioneer of the digital revolution in the region with numerous valuable, ecosystem-enhancing partnerships. The AWS Middle East (UAE) Region is a welcome addition to the country’s innovation ecosystem, helping to:
Customers and AWS Partners Welcome the News from the AWS Middle East (UAE) Region
Businesses in the UAE are among the millions of active customers using AWS each month in more than 190 countries worldwide, including tens of thousands of customers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). These customers use AWS to drive innovation, increase agility, and realize cost savings. Companies that have chosen AWS to become more agile and innovative include Al Ghurair Investments, Al Tayer Group, Aramex, Axiom Telecom, Flydubai, GIG Gulf (formerly AXA Gulf), Gulf News, OSN, Shahid, Seera Group, Virgin Middle East and many more. Public sector MENA organizations use AWS to achieve cost savings, accelerate innovation, and better serve the citizens of the region. Examples of these organizations are Dubai Expo 2020, Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Bahrain Government Ministries, Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University and University of Bahrain. MENA startups building their businesses on AWS to quickly scale and expand globally include Alef Education, Anghami, Careem, Dubizzle, EKar, Fetchr, Haraj, Maestro Pizza, Mawdoo3.com, Property Finder, Sarwa, Souqalmal, StarzPlay and Yallacompare.
Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) is the largest Islamic bank in the UAE and the second largest Islamic bank in the world. “Dubai Islamic Bank has for many years been committed to using technology as a way to support customers and simplify the entire banking process,” said Obaid Al Shamsi, DIB’s Chief Operating Officer. “We are proud to be a truly digitally intelligent bank and to be at the forefront of innovation and transformation that supports the nation’s leaders in realizing their vision for the UAE’s digital economy and Dubai as a thriving hub of global Islamic economy positioned. Our digital transformation strategy focuses on analyze every single step of the customer journey and eliminate all aspects that are unfavorable for the customer. We have achieved this by taking a customer-centric approach and offering convenient, fast and responsive banking services in minutes instead of days. In this regard, we welcome the establishment of the AWS UAE region, which we expect will increase our agility and help accelerate innovation and experimentation with the latest technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.”
The United Arab Emirates Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) is responsible for enforcing public health policy in all technical and substantive areas, as well as coordinating with government departments and collaborating with the private health sector locally and internationally. Earlier this year, AWS signed a Strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the MoHAP. “We are excited to establish an AWS region in the UAE and to implement our agreement with AWS to help MoHAP modernize the patient experience,” said Ali Juma AlAjme, director of the Digital Health Department at MoHAP. “The AWS region in the UAE will enable us to Accelerate our digital transformation program, build competencies and capabilities, drive clinical and technical innovation, and further strengthen the country’s position as the world’s leading healthcare hub. Our partnership with AWS gives us the ability to connect 100% of public and private healthcare providers to further enhance our data strategy to drive predictive and population-based health programs. We work to identify current data sources, data flows and targeted outcomes of a data-driven approach to decision making.” Our partnership with AWS gives us the ability to connect 100% of public and private healthcare providers to further enhance our data strategy to drive predictive and population-based health programs. We work to identify current data sources, data flows and targeted outcomes of a data-driven approach to decision making.” Our partnership with AWS gives us the ability to connect 100% of public and private healthcare providers to further enhance our data strategy to drive predictive and population-based health programs. We work to identify current data sources, data flows and targeted outcomes of a data-driven approach to decision making.”
Al Ghurair Investment (AGI) is one of the largest diversified family-owned groups in the Middle East with six major businesses including Food & Resources, Real Estate, Construction & Services, Energy, Transportation and Equity. In 2020, AGI embarked on a group-wide transformation journey, building on the company’s more than 60-year legacy to reposition itself for the future. A key part of this business-focused transformation was strengthening the company’s digital ecosystem by leveraging the power of AWS for information technology (IT) transformation and infrastructure modernization. “AWS is a strategic partner on our IT transformation journey and our preferred cloud service provider for the entire advanced digital technology stack,” said Marinda Sheahan, global vice president, IT at AGI. “We chose AWS for its rich data and analytics capabilities, and now the transformation to a data-driven organization is in full swing. This will allow us to achieve cost savings of up to 25% over a three-year period. The new AWS region in the UAE will advance our own goals of becoming an agile, innovative and flexible IT organization, aligned with the company’s purpose of ‘Enhancing Life’.” IT at AGI. “We chose AWS for its rich data and analytics capabilities, and now the transformation to a data-driven organization is in full swing. This will allow us to achieve cost savings of up to 25% over a three-year period. The new AWS region in the UAE will advance our own goals of becoming an agile, innovative and flexible IT organization, aligned with the company’s purpose of ‘Enhancing Life’.” IT at AGI. “We chose AWS for its rich data and analytics capabilities, and now the transformation to a data-driven organization is in full swing. This will allow us to achieve cost savings of up to 25% over a three-year period. The new AWS region in the UAE will advance our own goals of becoming an agile, innovative and flexible IT organization, aligned with the company’s purpose of ‘Enhancing Life’.”
GEMS Education is one of the largest private K-12 operators in the world with over 60 years of experience. The company owns and operates more than 60 schools in the MENA region, educating more than 130,000 students. “We have built an all-in-one integrated edtech platform on AWS called LearnOS,” said Krishnan Gopi, group chief disruption officer at GEMS Education. “We are also developing ANET, an advanced neural AI engine for education. The platform leverages a variety of advanced cloud technologies from AWS, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, to help teachers create personalized learning experiences. We automated student attendance using Amazon Rekognition, reducing the time it takes to assess attendance by 93%. We have also developed an automated test creation and scoring platform that leverages Amazon EC2 and Amazon SageMaker. The algorithms predict student performance at the end of the year with up to 95% accuracy and suggest personalized reading material. With AWS on-premises data centers, we can innovate faster while still meeting in-country data hosting requirements.” The algorithms predict student performance at the end of the year with up to 95% accuracy and suggest personalized reading material. With AWS on-premises data centers, we can innovate faster while still meeting in-country data hosting requirements.” The algorithms predict student performance at the end of the year with up to 95% accuracy and suggest personalized reading material. With AWS on-premises data centers, we can innovate faster while still meeting in-country data hosting requirements.”
Alef Education is fully built on AWS with customers in the US, UAE and Indonesia, serving more than 4,000 schools, 690,000 students and 40,000 teachers. Alef Education is a global leader in education technology and has developed the Alef Platform, which provides a range of digital products and services to support student learning on AWS. The platform leverages AWS artificial intelligence services to personalize curriculum and provide K-12 teachers with real-time feedback on student progress. “Using AWS has given us significant benefits in identifying and solving some of the most critical problems in education. In addition, we are positioned to equip future generations to thrive in a technology-driven world.” said Geoffrey Alphonso, CEO of Alef Education. “AWS cloud computing technologies and capabilities have enabled us to innovate faster while reducing IT costs by 30%, inventory costs by 50%, and video stream size by 300%. In addition, the new data centers in the UAE will help us meet data residency requirements to better support our local customers, including the Ministry of Education.”
YAP is a fast-growing regional finance app focused on enhancing the digital banking experience. It functions as an independent app with no physical branches, making it the first of its kind in the UAE. “AWS has helped us fuel our growth and transform us into a leading regional fintech company,” said Marwan Hachem, Founder and CEO of YAP. “AWS gives us the flexibility to keep costs under control as our user base grows to more than 130,000 users. Additionally, we can scale quickly as we enter new markets, reducing the time to build and deploy a complete infrastructure from months to weeks. As the UAE continues to be the trailblazer for innovative companies like YAP,
The AWS Partner Network (APN)-based partners in the Middle East have also responded very positively to the news of the launch of the AWS Middle East (UAE) Region.
The AWS Partner Network (APN) includes tens of thousands of independent software vendors (ISVs) and systems integrators (SIs) around the world. AWS Partners develop innovative solutions and services on AWS, and the APN helps them by providing business, technical, marketing, and go-to-market support to customers. AWS SIs, consulting partners, and ISVs help enterprise and public sector customers migrate to AWS, deploy mission-critical applications, and provide a full range of monitoring, automation, and management services for customer environments in the cloud. Examples of AWS Middle East partners are Accenture, Bespin Global MEA, Citrus Consulting, Cloud4c, Crayon, Deloitte, Du, Etisalat, F5, Integra Technologies, Keplerworx, Palo Alto Networks, Rackspace, Redington, SAP, Splunk, TCS, Trend Micro, VMWare, Wipro and Zero&One. A full list of AWS partners is ataws.amazon.com/partners available.
AWS Advanced Tier Services Partner Bespin Global-Middle East and Africa (MEA) is a leading cloud consulting and management firm helping organizations accelerate cloud adoption on AWS. Bespin Global delivers innovative solutions and consulting expertise and ensures service-oriented results. “Today’s launch of the AWS UAE region is a pivotal moment in accelerating digital transformation for our customers, particularly those in highly regulated industries such as government, financial services, energy and healthcare,” said Mouteih Chaghlil, CEO for the Middle East and Africa at Bespin Global. “As part of our strategic partnership with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), we have been working extensively with government agencies to assist them in opening up the new AWS Region, including complying with data residency requirements. We look forward to working with our customers across all industries to unlock the full potential of the new AWS region with our highly skilled team of cloud experts based in Abu Dhabi.”
Zero&One is an AWS partner that helps companies across the MENA region with complex technology projects, specializing in migrations and modernizations. “Zero&One is growing in the Middle East thanks to AWS’ continued investments, and today’s opening of the new AWS region is an important milestone for the industry,” said Ali El Kontar, Founder and CEO of Zero&One. “As a company, we have increased our resources and capabilities in response to increasing demand for AWS services and recently became an AWS Premier Tier Services Partner. In addition, we have entered into a strategic partnership with PwC Middle East, bringing together PwC’s expertise in the field of digital consulting and the in-depth competencies of Zero&One,
AWS investment in UAE
The new AWS Middle East (UAE) Region represents the latest of AWS’ ongoing investments in the UAE. In 2018, AWS launched its first Amazon CloudFront edge locations in the UAE, enabling customers in the UAE to access the Services Amazon CloudFront and Amazon Route 53. Amazon CloudFront is a highly secure and programmable content delivery network that enables the delivery of data, video, applications, and APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) to users around the world with low latency and high transfer speeds accelerated. That same year, AWS also introduced AWS Direct Connect-Locations in the UAE that provide customers with private connectivity between AWS and their data center, branch office, or colocation environment. This can reduce network costs, increase data throughput and create a more consistent network experience. AWS technical staff and engineers ensure the continuous operation of the AWS infrastructure.
In 2020, AWS launched AWS Outposts , providing UAE customers and partners access to the same AWS infrastructure, AWS services, APIs, and tools in virtually any data center, colocation space, or on-premises facility for a truly consistent hybrid experience. Today, AWS Outposts enable customers and partners to run key AWS services in their own data centers while connecting to a broader range of services on AWS infrastructure.
commitment to sustainability
As part of The Climate Pledge , Amazon has committed to becoming a more sustainable company and to achieving a carbon neutral footprint of its operations by 2040, 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement. Amazon co-founded The Climate Pledge and became its first signatory in 2019. As part of its commitment to the Climate Pledge, Amazon is on track to power its operations to 100% renewable energy by 2025, five years ahead of its original 2030 target. Amazon is the world’s largest commercial buyer of renewable energy ,and has achieved 85% renewable energy across the company by the end of 2021. For more information about Amazon’s approach, see Amazon’s public methodology. Companies that move compute workloads to the AWS Cloud can benefit from the net effect of Amazon’s sustainability efforts and reduce their carbon footprint.
Via Amazon Web Services
For over 15 years, Amazon Web Services has offered the most comprehensive and widely used cloud offering in the world. AWS has continuously expanded its services to support nearly every workload in the cloud and now has more than 200 fully-functional services in compute, storage, database, networking, analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), internet of Things (IoT), mobile, security, hybrid, virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR), media, and application development, delivery and management from 87 availability zones in 27 geographic regions. Plans have been announced for 21 more Availability Zones and seven more AWS Regions in Australia, Canada, India, Israel, New Zealand, Spain and Switzerland. Millions of customers—including the fastest growing startups, the largest corporations, and leading government agencies—rely on AWS to power their infrastructure, become more agile, and reduce costs.
For more such updates follow us on Google News TalkCMO News.
