Alibaba Cloud to put up first data center in Philippines

Cloud computing firm Alibaba Cloud, a subsidiary of Chinese magnate Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group, on Tuesday announced plans to build its first data center in the Philippines by the end of this year in a bid to expand its footprint in Asia and further support the digital transformation efforts of the country’s enterprises.

In a statement, Alibaba Cloud said the new data center will extend the reach of Alibaba Cloud’s offerings in the Philippines, ranging from elastic compute, database, security and network services to machine learning and data analytics capabilities.

Local businesses across sectors such as financial technology, 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, it said.

“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,” said Leo Liu, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence general manager for Hong Kong, Macau, and Philippines.

Alibaba Cloud said its new data center will be constructed in Manila and bring the company’s total availability zones to 76 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 at Alibaba Cloud Intelligence.

To support Philippine businesses’ digitalization, Alibaba Cloud said it has formed partnerships with more than 20 organizations across retail, healthcare, fintech, information and communications technology (ICT), business process outsourcing, media, and education sectors.

The company is also aiming 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 said it established a local team in the Philippines and trained them to address the specific needs of clients and deliver a personalized customer service experience.—AOL, GMA News