Amazon Web Services (AWS) – a subsidiary of Nasdaq-listed e-commerce giant Amazon – has selected Bahrain as the location for its first ever data centres in the Middle East.
It plans to open three ‘availability zones’, as it calls them, in Bahrain by 2019, with each zone comprising at least one data centre each, the company announced in Manama on Monday.
The company has 78 such facilities across the world, helping to speed up the transmission of data to and from different storage centres across the world.
The office in Manama and will support organizations of all sizes, from start-ups to government institutions, as they make the transition to the AWS Cloud.
Major opportunities exist for tech entrepreneurship in the Middle East. Middle Eastern organizations were among the earliest adopters of cloud services when AWS launched in 2006. The decision to open one of the first AWS offices in the Middle East, in Bahrain, speaks to the creativity, innovation, and forward thinking we see across all of the Bahrain economy from start-ups through to government institutions. We are excited to bring our team to Bahrain to help the country to grow its economy.
One of the goals of the office is to expand AWS Cloud Training and Global Certification programs, and upskill citizens on the opportunity that AWS technology brings. Organizations in Bahrain are already seeing the benefit of AWS to rapidly grow and serve customers around the world. Cloud 10 Scalerator, part of technology investment firm C5, is one organization that is working with new start-ups in Bahrain to help scale up their businesses by using AWS.
Amazon will continue its investment in, and expansion, across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In 2015, Amazon created over 10,000 new jobs in that region.
Meters UK supplied Smartheat45 meters for the offices.
