RECOGNIZING how local businesses are rapidly digitalizing, technology provider Alibaba Cloud will set up its first data center in the Philippines within the 4th quarter of 2021. The tech giant is investing some $1B in the region for this year.
“We are ready to serve all kinds of businesses through Alibaba Cloud. We have vendors who will be able to provide exactly what is needed to bring them to the Cloud and enjoy the benefits of what we can offer. By opening our data center in the Philippines we also are able to fix the problem of where the data stays and how the processes can be localized,” Leo Liu, General Manager for Hong Kong, Macau, and Philippines, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence said as he also explained how the move contributes to expanding its footprint in Asia.
The new data center will extend the reach of Alibaba Cloud’s offerings in the Philippines. Start-ups are familiar with its services that allow quick expansion such as elastic compute, security, and network services to machine learning and data analytics capabilities. Enterprises know their Cloud computing services in infrastructure (IaaS), platform (PaaS), database (DbaaS), and software (SaaS). Add to this Internet of Things (IoT), object storage (OOS) Kubernetes open source for data customization.
Local businesses across sectors such as financial technology (Fintech), e-commerce, education and media will be able to adopt and implement Cloud technologies more efficiently and better position themselves to capture the emerging opportunities in the country.
“Alibaba expands in Cloud business here in the Philippines by the data center because Cloud computing has become very important to the region. The data center will give us the capability to serve this market faster and more effectively,” Lui told the media attending the virtual press conference announcing the milestone.
Alibaba Cloud’s new data center will be constructed in Manila and bring the company’s total availability zones to 76 spread across 25 regions worldwide.
“Alibaba Cloud’s upcoming data center launch underscores our commitment to equipping Philippine customers with secure, reliable and scalable cloud solutions. It is important for local enterprises to have access to reliable cloud architecture to efficiently meet the evolving needs of Filipino consumers. We are glad to be in a position to provide local enterprises with the tools they need to succeed,” said Allen Guo, Country Manager for the Philippines, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence.
Part of the expansion of Alibaba in the country is the training and hiring of technology professionals. It aims to train 50,000 local IT professionals and help 5,000 businesses migrate online by 2023. The company also established a local team in the Philippines and trained them to address the specific needs of clients and deliver a personalized customer service experience.
“Cloud computing has become central to the digitalization of businesses in the Philippines and around Asia. With our first data center in the country, we will be able to better support Philippine enterprises in adopting cloud technologies and preparing for a digital-first future. We look forward to building out the cloud ecosystem in the Philippines and contributing to the digital economy in Asia, leveraging the synergy with other hubs in the region,” Lui added.
Alibaba Cloud has also formed partnerships with more than 20 organizations across the retail, healthcare, FinTech, Information and Communications Technology (ICT), business process outsourcing, media and education sectors. Called the Philippines Ecosystem Alliance, it main objective is to fast-track the digitalization of local businesses and support the government’s Cloud First Policy
Alibaba Cloud has been ranked as the leading public cloud service provider in APAC and third globally, according to Gartner. Since it entered the Philippine market in 2019, Alibaba Cloud has been working hard to provide the best of the Alibaba ecosystem to local businesses.
