Qatari ICT firm Meeza has launched a new data center due to host a new Mircosoft cloud region in Doha.
The company this week inaugurated the M-VAULT 4 facility in a ceremony attended by His Excellency Mohammed bin Ali Al-Mannai, Minister of Communications and Information Technology.
First announced by Meeza in June 2020 and located in Doha’s Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP), the new facility is reportedly the biggest data center building in Qatar and will host Microsoft’s Doha Azure cloud region. Specifications of M-Vault 4 were not shared.
Minister Ali Al-Mannai said: “We are pleased to launch the M-VAULT 4 data center. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Meeza for their efforts in bringing this data center building to completion, which will contribute to providing more cloud hosting services and is considered a new important milestone in Qatar Azure Region journey that we have embarked on in partnership with Microsoft. Organizations in Qatar and region will soon be able to benefit from the innovative solutions provided by Qatar Azure cloud region, that keep pace with the development of the era and drive growth.”
Meeza is a privately-held joint venture with Qatar Foundation, the state-owned education & research non-profit. The company operates four data centers and offers a number of managed IT services.
“We are very pleased to inaugurate the new data center building M-VAULT 4,” said Ahmad Abdulla AL-Muslemani, CEO of Meeza. “This building will contribute to strengthening our technological infrastructure that is necessary to enhance the level of cloud services in Qatar and compete with a global market.”
The Qatari government gave Microsoft permission to develop a cloud region in the Gulf country in January 2019, with an official announcement from the company coming in December of that year. At the time the company said the new region would be available in 2021, but the Azure geographies page currently says the Qatar Central region will be online in 2022.
Lana Khalaf, country manager at Microsoft Qatar, added: “Congratulations to MEEZA on this important milestone and exemplary execution towards [a] Qatar Azure region. We are proud to partner with the State of Qatar and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology to bring the power of the Microsoft Cloud to customers in Qatar and the surrounding region in the most sustainable way.”
Microsoft launched Azure regions in neighboring UAE in Abu Dhabi (UAE Central) and Dubai (UAE North) in 2019, though the former has since been de-listed; it may now be a reserved access region. The company is also developing an Azure region in Israel.
