Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, set in motion plans to support Philippine enterprises in their digital transformation journey and further expand its footprint in Asia with the announcement of its first data center to be built in the country by the end of the year.
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. Alibaba Cloud’s new data center will be constructed in Manila, bringing the company’s total available zones to 76 spread across 25 regions worldwide.
Alibaba Cloud has chosen to build a data center in the Philippines because it is a booming market having young, digital savvy population with IT, cloud and analytics capabilities.
“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. We look forward to building out the cloud ecosystem in the Philippines and contributing to the digital economy in Asia, leveraging the synergy with other hubs in the region,” said Leo Liu, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence’s general manager for Hong Kong, Macau and the Philippines.
For Allen Guo, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence’s country manager for the Philippines, “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 tools they need to succeed.”
Liu noted it is their business goal to support Philippines enterprises on their transformational journey by the end of 2023. To achieve this target, Alibaba will work on multiple initiatives such as increasing their local cloud infrastructure investment; introducing cloud security, cloud database, analytics, and some hybrid cloud solutions; and will work on their partners in their ecosystem alliance and offer more services to address customers’ pain points as well as upgrading local talent programs and increasing local hiring to meet customers’ needs.
To adequately support Philippine businesses’ digitalization, Alibaba has formed partnerships with more than 20 organizations across the retail, healthcare, fintech, information and communications technology, business process outsourcing, media and education sectors.
Last year, Alibaba Cloud announced the formation of the Philippines Ecosystem Alliance to fast-track the digitalization of local businesses and support the government’s Cloud First Policy. The
company also released a series of premium programs including the Alibaba Cloud Academy Program, Alibaba Cloud Partners Program, and Alibaba Cloud Academy Program, which aim to train 50,000 local IT professionals and help 5,000 businesses migrate online by 2023.
