Oracle doubles up on Morocco data centres

Two new Oracle Cloud Regions, as hyperscale data centres are known in the industry, are set to be opened in Morocco.

Database software leader Oracle will be the first hyperscaler to open public cloud regions in North Africa, The facilities in Casablanca and Settat will offer enterprise cloud services to local and regional organisations across Africa. 

The new regions will enable Oracle customers and partners to migrate mission-critical workloads from their data centres to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), while helping them comply with local regulations. As a result, customers and partners can access a wide range of cloud services to modernise their applications and innovate with AI, data, and analytics. 

Oracle says the planned public cloud regions in Casablanca and Settat underscore its commitment to Africa and will help drive the digital transformation of enterprises, startups, universities, and investors in Morocco and across the region. 

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish the two Oracle Cloud Regions in Morocco was signed by Moroccan officials Mohcine Jazouli, minister delegate to the head of government in charge of investment, convergence, and evaluation of public policies; Ghita Mezzour, minister delegate to the head of government in charge of digital transition and administrative reform; and Ali Seddiki, general director of the Moroccan Agency for the Development of Investments and Exports (AMDIE).

Oracle was represented by Richard Smith, executive vice president for technology in Europe, Middle East and Africa, at the signing that took place during GITEX Africa 2024.

“The opening of Oracle’s public cloud in Morocco will accelerate the digital transformation throughout the region,” said Mezzour. “This strategic expansion, with a hyperscaler like Oracle, positions Morocco as a unique player in the region and allows an even more dynamic development of skills, and growth opportunities.”

Smith said: “As one of the largest economies in Africa, and with strong business and cultural connections with West Africa, Maghreb, and Europe, Morocco offers unique growth opportunities for businesses that are aiming to accelerate their expansion by deploying the latest digital technologies. 

“The upcoming Oracle Cloud Regions will offer enterprise-grade cloud capabilities to help organisations quickly deliver new solutions, build resilience, and explore new markets to help accelerate growth. The new regions will also serve as the foundation for the Moroccan government’s modernisation of its public services to better serve its people.”

Part of Oracle’s distributed cloud strategy, the planned regions will offer OCI’s full suite of services. This includes Oracle Autonomous Database, MySQL HeatWave Database Service, Oracle Container Engine for Kubernetes, Oracle Cloud VMware Solution, OCI Generative AI service, and OCI AI Infrastructure. 

OCI’s cloud architecture enables Oracle to deploy dedicated cloud regions with hyperscale cloud services inside customer data centers and deploy more public cloud regions faster by starting with an optimal footprint and scaling as needed. This approach helps meet the needs of all countries and markets without compromising cloud capabilities, while also providing consistent performance, SLAs, and global pricing.

With the planned regions in Morocco, customers and partners can gain low-latency access to cloud services. They can also leverage redundancy and disaster recovery capabilities to enhance business continuity and help address Morocco’s regulations and requirements for data residency. 

OCI’s sovereign AI capabilities provide customers with increased control over where they locate their data and computing infrastructure and how they manage it. As a result, customers are assured that their use of AI is aligned with digital sovereignty frameworks.

OCI’s distributed cloud lineup (as provided by Oracle) includes:

• Dedicated cloud: Customers can run all OCI cloud services in their own data centers with OCI Dedicated Region, while partners can resell OCI cloud services and customize the experience using Oracle Alloy. Oracle also operates separate U.S., UK, and Australian Government Clouds, and Isolated Cloud Regions for U.S. national security purposes. Each of these products provide a full cloud and AI stack that customers can deploy as a Sovereign Cloud.
• Hybrid cloud: OCI delivers key cloud services on-premises via Oracle Exadata Cloud@Customer and Compute Cloud@Customer and is already managing deployments in over 60 countries.
• Public cloud: Hyperscale public cloud regions serve any size of organization, including those requiring strict EU sovereignty controls. See the full list of regions here.
• Multicloud: Options including Oracle Database@Azure, MySQL HeatWave on AWS and Microsoft Azure, and Oracle Interconnect for Microsoft Azure allow customers to combine key capabilities from across clouds.