Africa's only gold certified Microsoft Cloud Operating System Network (COSN) partner Business Connexion (BCX) has launched the first pay-as-you-go service for Windows Azure Pack out of its carrier-neutral, certified Tier IV data centre.

The solution combines enterprise-class control and compliance with a fully managed service and self-provisioning.

At a media session hosted on site at the BCX data centre in Midrand, Johannesburg, on the same day Microsoft will host the global launch of Windows 10, the partners spoke of the relevance of teaming up to offer what they described as "Africa's first self-provisional cloud solution."

"There is no doubt that local markets are becoming increasingly competitive," says Jacques Loubser, managing executive of converged infrastructure solutions at BCX. "Technology in itself is also no longer a differentiator, but has rather become an enabler. This, coupled with a need to be more innovative and agile, is driving cloud adoption across the continent and is transforming the data centre.

BCX claims it has 27% market share in the data centre services space and said among the most important criteria for those considering service acquisition through the cloud is 24/7 realtime support, price and engagement with a local player.

"One of the biggest benefits of this solution lies is that it is hosted locally. It reduces latency, or the amount of time it takes for a data packet to travel from source to destination and solves the issues around data sovereignty," says Loubser.

Comparing the movement of data to travel, he says: "Travelling to an international versus a local destination will naturally take longer and cost more and the movement of data is no different."

In a statement the companies refer to IDC's 2015 Top 10 ICT Predictions for Africa and the claim that security concerns are increasing due the increase in mobile device, data and access methods.

"IDC believes this will drive governments on the continent to address cyber security legislation and look at further country-specific data protection that could require in-country presence and hosting," the statement reads.

"Clients are increasingly prioritising dealing with a local partner as it creates a sense of comfort being able to deal with directly with a person where the data resides. It also simplifies the support process and eliminates the need to bring an additional support partner into the fold. They are also looking to consolidate the number of vendors they deal with."

BCX says it is the first COSN partner to make the self-service control panel available in Africa.

"Through this panel clients that know what they want can purchase the technology they need online, simplifying the procurement process," he says.

The Windows Azure Pack solution can also be deployed in the client's own data centre, according to the company.

Loubser explains the relevance of this launch to the company's overall vision. "We have evolved from being a system integrator to cloud integrator and our vision is to, by 2020, become the cloud integrator of the Internet of Things. We apply the same consistent framework that Microsoft uses in their data centres in our own. What is key, however, is that we can manage the subscriptions and services through one single pane of glass. "

Leon Wright, business group lead for cloud and enterprise at Microsoft South Africa, said Microsoft is about 'mobile first, cloud first' and the two are not separate. He described Microsoft as "partner-centric" and scales via its partners.