Microsoft and NetApp have announced that the high-performance Azure NetApp Files (ANF) cloud file storage service is now available for data storage in the UAE North region, located in Dubai.
Necip Ozyucel, Azure business group lead, Microsoft UAE, said, “We are delighted to be offering our customers Azure NetApp Files (ANF) shared file-storage services through the Azure UAE Regions. Since opening our local cloud data centres nearly two years ago, we have been working continuously with partners and customers to bring the fastest, safest, and most convenient services to the UAE to provide data residency and low latency. We look forward to continuing our journey to empower more individuals and organisations through Azure as we expand our investment in the country.”
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According to the technology giants, the deployment of ANF in the UAE enables local users of the Microsoft Azure cloud to benefit from local certifications, especially for government, financial and medical service sectors, to meet local data sovereignty requirements.
ANF’s performance makes it possible to deploy critical workloads, such as SAP HANA, database, high-performance computing (HPC), business applications, virtual desktop infrastructure (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, VDI) or Kubernetes and containers.
“Cloud adoption has accelerated in the Middle East as organisations adapt to more agile business models,” said Fadi Kanafani, managing director of NetApp Middle East. “Azure NetApp Files’ availability in Dubai helps many UAE organisations address the need for sovereign cloud services for their more sensitive data.”
