FAQ: Five Frequently Asked Questions

A datacenter is a collection of buildings that contains a group of connected computers. A datacenter is located in a separate physical location with its own power and network.

A datacenter region is a cluster of datacenters that are located in a geographically defined region. Clustering multiple datacenters in a region with low network lateness provides robust data retention, as the physical separation of datacenters protects data from problems in each datacenter. This allows customers who have specific data retention requirements to store their data and applications in the UAE.

Our datacenter regions are located in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and will consist of three availability zones in Dubai.

Microsoft has chosen to invest in datacenter regions because the UAE is a pioneer in innovation and digital transformation. At the same time, we at Microsoft are experiencing an increasing demand for our customers' data to be stored on Emirati soil. In doing so, we support the continued use of Microsoft Cloud – Azure, Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365 and Power Platform – in situations where our customers want to store data on Emirati soil.

Azure is now available in over 140 countries and offers customers more than 60 datacenter regions worldwide (and growing) from which to choose. These Azure regions provide customers with the benefits of data residency and latency optimization and may enable regional compliance. Azure UAE regions are certified by Dubai Electronic Security Center (DESC) UAE DESC - Azure Compliance | Microsoft Docs

In our experience, the establishment of local datacenter infrastructure stimulates economic growth for both customers and partners because it enables businesses and government organizations to realize the full potential of cloud solutions for innovation and the development of new projects.

With the investment in datacenter regions, we can offer our customers and partners cloud solutions that are particularly accessible, scalable and secure. The datacenter regions provide the possibility of storing data on Emirates soil and therefore also lower network latency.

Foundational and Mainstream services availability are close to 100%. We keep adding new services to the Azure UAE regions. Service Availability and Roadmap can be found here:
Azure Products by Region | Microsoft Azure

Azure services that support availability zones are designed to provide the right level of resiliency and flexibility along with ultra-low latency. Azure services that support availability zones can be seen here:
Azure services that support availability zones | Microsoft Docs

More than 60 Azure regions including Azure UAE regions give our customers flexibility of global reach with local presence. Organizations from all industries and all sizes are leveraging Microsoft Azure to enable their digital transformation.
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