By Judith Gicobi
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced intentions to open a hub in Kenya in order to strengthen its position in the lucrative data hosting industry.
The AWS Local Zone will join 16 other comparable centers in the United States, with another 32 slated to open in 26 countries later this year.
“Local zones will empower more public and private organisations, innovative startups and AWS partners to deliver a new generation of leading edge, low-latency applications to end users,” according to Robin Njiru, AWS Regional Lead for East, West, and Central Africa.
“Customers can take advantage of the cost savings, scalability and high availability that AWS provides.”
Mr. Njiru made the news at the Connected Kenya Summit, which gathered dozens of ICT industry partners and management from around the area in Diani, Kwale.
“The new AWS Local Zone in Kenya is a continuation of our investment to support customers of all kinds and our commitment to accelerate innovation by bringing cloud infrastructure to more locations in the country,” he said.
“We know that delivering ultra-low latency applications for a seamless user experience matters in every business and industry, so we are excited to bring the edge of the cloud closer to more customers in Kenya to help meet their requirements.”
The investment by Amazon, according to ICT Cabinet Secretary Joseph Mucheru, shows that Kenya is appealing to foreign direct investors looking to expand their influence in the area.
“This reaffirms our country’s position as an attractive place to invest, powered by a high volume of local talented developers,” he said.
The AWS Local Zone, according to Safaricom Chief Enterprise Business Officer Kris Senanu, will strengthen the company’s cloud capabilities, particularly for corporate and SME consumers.
“With this local presence driven by our partnership with Amazon, we will achieve increased speed, stability, reliability and storage to support more businesses migrate to the cloud,” he stated.
