Google has announced plans to build its first cloud infrastructure in South Africa for an estimated $1 billion.
The tech giant is following in the footsteps of Amazon Web Service and Microsoft Azure which set up similar resources in the continent a few years ago.
At the same time, the company announced it is building Dedicated Interconnect sites, which will interlink the cloud services across various cities. Nairobi (Kenya), Lagos (Nigeria) and South Africa (Capetown and Johannesburg) are the cities initially selected for cloud interconnection.
“We are giving customers and partners choice, they then have the choice where they would like to store data and where they would like to consumer cloud services from”, said Niral Patel, the director of Google Cloud Africa.
Earlier this year, Google laid its subsea cable named Equiano in the continent, connecting Africa and Europe. The company will tap into this subsea cable to help deliver cloud services in the continent. Equiano landed first in Togo, Namibia, Nigeria and South Africa.
Patel said that the cable “will make it really easier for our customers and partners to quickly deploy solutions for their businesses, whereby they’re able to leverage our computer artificial intelligence or machine learning capabilities, and data analytics to make smarter business decisions as they go forward.”
The Google executive further said that the company is aware of the data sovereignty that exists in several African countries and will thus allow customers and partners to choose where they would like to store their data and where they would like to consume its cloud services.
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