Microsoft cloud services have landed in Canada! Or as one excited IT developer exclaimed on twitter: “This is huge! @Azure and @Office365 are learning to say "Eh!" Welcome to Canada!” As announced this week, Microsoft will be opening their first two new data centres in Canada later this year.
Up 'til now, we’ve not been able to help the highly regulated healthcare, government and education sectors with their digital asset management needs, as they need to comply with storing their data within our borders. The new Microsoft data centres will create significant market opportunities for us in Canada as their availability will eliminate the one major barrier preventing us from providing services to the Canadian public, education and healthcare markets.
This week David MacLaren, our CEO is in Toronto for the announcement and to attend a VIP partner roundtable hosted by Kevin Turner, Worldwide Chief Operating Officer at Microsoft. On the agenda was defining ways of leveraging the potential created by the cloud for Canadian organizations.
David was quoted in a Financial Post article covering the news, he said:
“Since launching the first version of MediaValet in late 2010, we’ve had opportunities to work with healthcare, government and higher education organizations in Canada, but been hampered by their rigorous data compliance needs. Microsoft’s investment in a Canadian cloud will open up doors to significant sectors of the Canadian market and help us grow our market share on home soil.”
There is definitely excitement around this significant investment from Microsoft. Here are some of the headlines and tweets we’ve been reading:
IT World Canada: Microsoft plans two Canadian data centres to address CIOs' cloud concerns
Financial Post: Microsoft Corp brings its cloud to Canada to assuage data concerns
The Stack: Microsoft takes action on Canadian data sovereignty concerns
@shaneschick (editor of Canadian CIO): BREAKING: Microsoft announces two new data centres to provide #cloud services in Canada: one in Toronto, one in Quebec.
@dmrider (David Rider, Bureau Chief of Toronto Star): Having private, public and hybrid(!) cloud solutions is "ultimate Canadian hat trick" says @microsoftcanada prez Janet Kennedy
@bradbutler (SharePoint developer): This is huge! @Azure and @Office365 are learning to say "Eh!" Welcome to Canada!
Click below to read the Microsoft data centre announcement release in its entirety.
