Google Cloud has opened a new cloud region in Doha, the capital of Qatar. The new region will form part of Qatar’s National Vision 2030, the country’s long-term framework for economic growth and environmental management. The cloud region is expected to contribute towards a cumulative $18.9bn in gross economic output by 2030 and create 25,000 jobs.
Local Support For The Cloud Region?
Qatar’ Minister of Communications and Information Technology, said, “The new cloud region will contribute to giving impetus to economic and productivity growth, and will allow various government and private companies and institutions within Qatar the opportunity to achieve significant efficiency gains by adopting flexible features and dealing with digital technology.”
This new cloud region will be so important in growing the country’s digital economy as made clear by National Vision 2030 and support from local government and business leaders. The move was welcomed by Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive who said, “Qatar Airways is excited at the opportunity offered by Google setting up its Cloud region in Qatar”.
Qatar Financial Center’s CEO was also excited about the new cloud region – “Our partnership with Google Cloud affirms our shared desire to facilitate the growth of local businesses by providing opportunities and solutions that enable them to capitalise on the transformative benefits of technology and digitalisation”.
Ahmed AlFahad, Executive Director of Technology & Network Operations, Al Jazeera Media Network explained how it would help his business…
“We are able to capture and analyse how people engage with news in real-time and translate these insights into actions that help us keep the world better informed. We believe that with the cloud region now in Qatar, we are going to be strongly positioned to deliver exceptional news coverage and drive deeper engagement to all the information.”
Will it Strengthen Google’s Game?
This new region will add to Google’s 36 cloud regions and 112 zones around the world. They had 20 cloud regions in 2021, so they’ve been growing pretty rapidly. Google provides services in 200 countries and territories worldwide, and is constantly expanding. However, the company isn’t unique in its expansion into the middle east; Oracle recently announced plans to launch a third cloud region in Saudi Arabia and the overall cloud market in the middle east is predicted to be worth almost $10bn by 2027. In terms of cloud regions too, Google is pretty middling, compared to its competitors. AWS has 31 cloud regions, Oracle has 42, but Microsoft leads with over 60!
Google’s new cloud region will strengthen the company’s claim of the cloud market and support the expansion of Qatar’s digital economy which will in turn help the region improve efficiency and sustainability. What do you think about this latest expansion? Let us know in the comments!
