Microsoft announces addition of Azure
Availability Zones and increase in capacity by 1300% to
empower customers with high availability, performance and
resilience to rapidly scale as the country embraces digital
transformation.
TORONTO, Jan. 9, 2020 /CNW/ - Microsoft Canada announced
today that it is undertaking the largest expansion of its
Canadian-based cloud computing infrastructure since the launch of
two Canadian cloud datacentre regions in 2016. As part of the
announcement, Microsoft will be adding Azure Availability Zones in
the Azure Canada Central region, increasing compute capacity by
more than 1300% since the region was first brought online in 2016.
Availability Zones give users high availability for their most
demanding applications and services as well as confidence and
protection from potential hardware and software failures by
providing three or more unique physical locations within an Azure
region. Additionally, Microsoft will also be
significantly increasing compute capacity and adding new
capabilities in the Azure Canada East region which will go live in
the first half of the year. The expansion will help Canadian
businesses have greater access to new innovations that will
accelerate business development and builds on Microsoft's
significant presence in Canada.
"Microsoft cloud services have been a core component to the
growth and development of thousands of Canadian organizations, and
we continue to make significant investments in both cloud solutions
and skilling programs to ensure that all of our customers, whether
private or public sector, startup or enterprise, are able to
accelerate their digital transformation," said Kevin Peesker, President of Microsoft Canada.
"The launch of Azure Availability Zones take Azure to a new level
in Canada by offering customers
increased reliability, performance and business continuity so they
can thrive in the digital age."
With this addition, Microsoft will be the only hyperscale cloud
provider in Canada to offer
Availability Zones and disaster recovery with in-country data
residency. Microsoft provides an SLA of 99.99% for virtual
machine environments deployed in Availability Zone
configurations, while also ensuring customers have high
performance, low latency, and operational reliability within its
Canadian cloud operations. Highly secure and with the leading
compliance certifications, including the Personal Information
Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), these new
additions make Azure the ideal cloud platform for the challenging
demands of mission critical computing.
Canadian Customers Trust Microsoft Azure
Today, tens of thousands of organizations of all sizes including
Suncor, PCL, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) among
others rely on Microsoft Azure for their cloud computing needs.
CIBC, a leading North American global financial institution uses
Azure delivered from Microsoft's Canadian cloud regions and is
looking forward to the new zones: "Azure is a core component of our
platform, enabling us to accelerate the speed of innovation for our
clients and team members. We welcome Microsoft Azure Availability
Zones in Canada, which will
provide us with improved resilience and scalability as we help make
our clients' ambitions a reality," said Dave Revell, Executive Vice-President,
Technology & Operations, CIBC.
This announcement has also been welcomed by Microsoft's partner
ecosystem including SAP, that recently announced an extensive
go-to-market partnership with Microsoft to accelerate customer
adoption of SAP S/4HANA® and SAP® Cloud Platform on Microsoft
Azure. Andy Canham, President of SAP
Canada shared, "We are continuing to see strong demand for cloud
computing capabilities, and these Azure capabilities will uncover
new opportunities for SAP and Microsoft to help our mutual
customers confidently and efficiently transition into intelligent
enterprises."
Microsoft's investments are also important to public sector
organizations interested in hosting potentially sensitive
information in a highly secure local environment. Microsoft
recently became one of the first global cloud providers to achieve
Certification for Protected B data in Canada, which enables Federal departments to
securely store, manage and process its most sensitive data and
applications in the Microsoft cloud. This has unleashed an enormous
digital transformation opportunity across the public sector with
organizations including the Ministry of Transportation trusting
that their sensitive data is highly secure, locally in the
Microsoft cloud. "The Microsoft Azure cloud platform has been
at the centre of our journey to digitize service delivery within
the Ministry of Transportation," said Wynnann Rose, Chief
Information Officer, Ministry of Transportation. "By leveraging
Microsoft's extensive catalogue of services in Azure, the Ministry
of Transportation has been able to modernize major elements of its
software development practice and deliver much more agile, scalable
and cost-effective digital services to Ontario citizens and businesses. Digital data
insights and advanced analytics continue to provide new ways to
visualize critical information and make data-driven decisions and
investments."
Equipping Canadians with the Skills to Succeed
As organizations look to accelerate cloud adoption, it is
critical that they have both trusted technology solutions as well
as the relevant skills to foster innovation. Microsoft continues to
collaborate with industry peers, government and academics to
help close the skills gap in Canada and is investing over $2 million in digital skills initiatives this
year. Currently, Microsoft offers several free programs and
training to help both technical and non-technical employees get the
fundamental skills required to thrive in the tech intense economy.
Programs include:
- Microsoft Training Days – 130 free training events,
reaching 12,000 Canadians across 10 cities, for technical
professionals focusing on core cloud computing concepts, cloud
migration, data, analytics, AI and more.
- Currently in Toronto Microsoft is hosting the Microsoft Ignite
Tour, a conference that brings together over 5,000 IT
professionals and developers for two days of learning to explore
the latest advancements in technology.
- Microsoft also offers a series of online learning programs
through Microsoft Learn and AI Business School which
offers industry-recognized Microsoft certifications, in-depth
training in virtual classrooms led by Microsoft Certified Trainers,
and a wide range of programs designed to fit diverse learning
needs. To read more about Microsoft's skilling initiatives in
Canada click here.
Microsoft Expands Azure Service Offerings
Microsoft Azure is trusted by 95% of the Fortune 500 companies
and has over 55 regions around the world – more than any other
cloud provider. Microsoft is delivering Azure, Office 365 and
Dynamics 365 from the local cloud regions in Canada to provide business customers with
the benefits of enterprise-grade reliability and performance
combined with data residency. Microsoft is also announcing the
expansion of new services out of local datacentre regions,
including:
- Addition of new Azure ExpressRoute site in Vancouver: In addition to existing
ExpressRoute sites in Toronto,
Montreal and Quebec City, Microsoft will be expanding its
ExpressRoute offerings in Vancouver. With the expansion, customers in
Vancouver will have the option to
create private connections to Microsoft cloud services.
ExpressRoute connections do not go over the public internet, and
offer more reliability, faster speeds and more consistent latencies
than typical internet connections. The service will go live by
March 2020.
With over 100 unique services available already, Microsoft
Canada offers a full catalog of Azure services to meet all customer
workloads, from basic IaaS, to latest PaaS services. To learn more
about how to transform your business with Azure visit here.
ABOUT MICROSOFT CANADA
Established in 1985,
Microsoft Canada Inc. is the Canadian subsidiary of
Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq "MSFT") the worldwide leader in
software, services and solutions that help people and businesses
realize their full potential. Microsoft Canada provides
nationwide sales, marketing, consulting and local support services
in both French and English. For more information on Microsoft
Canada, please visit www.microsoft.ca.
SOURCE Microsoft Canada Inc.