Microsoft's Middle East data centres in Abu Dhabi, Dubai now online.

• Position: Microsoft Corp. operations in United Arab Emirates

Microsoft on Wednesday officially announced the online operations of its much-anticipated cloud data centres in the UAE, as it pushes further in its quest to make digital transformation more available to businesses.

Dubbed 'cloud regions', the centres are the first for the US tech giant in the Middle East and are pegged to support organisations' adoption of the tech-rich Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, UAE Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, graced the event and gave a keynote.

"We call this tech intensity," Sayed Hashish, regional general manager of Microsoft Gulf, said in his speech at the event.

In an interview prior to Wednesday's launch, Hashish stressed that the new cloud regions will provide entities access to the cloud, which is scaleable, always available and resilient, while maintaining data residency, security and compliance needs - some of the most critical issues in the world of tech .

"We are committed to empowering every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more," he said.

Customers in the Middle East can move with confidence. they will be more competitive as they start their digital transformation journeys - engaging customers, empowering employees, optimising operations...