The digital technology and intelligence backbone of the Alibaba Group, Alibaba Cloud, announced the further expansion of its Asian footprint by building the first data center in the Philippines by the end of the year.
The new data center is envisioned to further support the digital transformation efforts of companies in the Philippines, which has a diverse makeup compared to other countries in the world.
The facility is also seen to help broaden the offerings of Alibaba Cloud in the country, which ranges from elastic compute, database, security and network services to machine learning and data analytics capabilities, says top officials of Alibaba Cloud during a virtual press conference held recently.
Local businesses across sectors such as financial technology (FinTech), e-commerce, education and media are seen to best adopt and implement cloud technologies more efficiently and have the capability to better position themselves to capture the emerging opportunities in the country.
“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,” said Leo Liu, General Manager for Hong Kong, Macau, and Philippines, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence during the virtual media event attended by FrontpagePH.com.
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.
To adequately support Philippine businesses’ digitalization, whether conglomerates or one of the country’s vast number of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which is long considered the “economic lifeblood” of the Philippines, Alibaba Cloud said it formed partnerships with more than 20 organizations across the retail, healthcare, FinTech, Information and Communications Technology (ICT), business process outsourcing, media and education sectors.
As a whole, MSMEs account for more than 99 percent of registered businesses in the country and provides around 60-63 percent of jobs.
Last year, Alibaba Cloud announced the formation of the Philippines Ecosystem Alliance to fast-track the digitalization of local businesses and support the government’s Cloud First Policy. The company also aims to train 50,000 local IT professionals and help 5,000 businesses migrate online by 2023.
To encourage the adoption of cloud technologies among local enterprises, Alibaba Cloud established a local team in the Philippines and trained them to address the specific needs of clients and deliver a more personalized customer service experience.
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.