Huawei said it will launch its first 'availability zone' for its cloud services offering in March 2019.

Speaking at the ITWeb Cloud Summit 2019 in Bryanston, Johannesburg this week, Farouk Osman Latib, Senior Manager, Solutions Architecture at Huawei said the company was ready to roll out its service "in some instances through partners and in others via its own datacentre."

In early November 2018 the company announced plans to launch its first public cloud datacentre in Africa, but was tight-lipped on where the site would be located and when it will be fully operational.

In a statement issued by Huawei at the time, the company described the planned launch as a significant step to accelerate its cloud business globally.

According to Huawei, the company's cloud business unit Huawei Cloud has introduced over 120 cloud services in 18 categories and cover 60+ general solutions including SAP, high-performance computing (HPC), Internet of Things (IOT), security and DevOps.

At the Cloud Summit yesterday Latib said, "What we are launching, come March 2019, is our first availability zone. We intend having a second availability zone, by June/July. In some instances we will have our datacentres, and in some instances we will rely on our partners to make use of their space."

"We're basically looking at three basic services – Infrastructure-as-a-service, platform-as-a-service, and software-as-a-service, solutions. We have under 200 services currently available. Some of those services, particularly around AI technology, we will launch as a subset, from a South Africa perspective. Although the entire bouquet of services are available," he added.

Latib also affirmed the company's view that cloud and AI will change all industries, and that there is an increase in AI adoption and application, mostly from companies that have already adopted digital technology.

He said that cloud connects all future technologies together and the company sees cloud as 'the runway', with AI, IOT and 5G as 'the engines'.

He reiterated the company's stance that data and analysis is driving digital transformation and its continued push for the integration of AI into the cloud.

Huawei Cloud will offer a full stack of AI solutions, with the emphasis on providing enterprises with a new way to adopt applications and leverage a model that the company believes offers cost saving, speed to market and security.

According to Huawei 85% of enterprise applications will be deployed to the cloud by 2025.

The company will focus on increasing regional presence in South Africa before moving onto other countries in Africa - with Nigeria firmly on the short-term radar.