Microsoft and Liquid Cloud have partnered to exploit growth within the hybrid cloud space and roll out new cloud solutions in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The solutions will be rolled out via Microsoft’s Africa Transformation Office (ATO) and the companies have confirmed the solutions will meet regulatory and data residency requirements, address low latency workloads, and strengthen resilience while enabling business continuity.

David Behr, CEO of Liquid Cloud and Cyber Security said, "We witnessed an accelerated adoption of cloud technologies in Africa, and businesses are now reaping the benefits of their investment. Our customers are increasingly moving to hybrid work culture, meaning the demand for cloud-based services will only grow.”

Wael Elkabbany, General Manager Africa Regional Cluster, Microsoft added: "Critical infrastructure enablers are needed to provide access to the cloud to accelerate digital transformation and the adoption of digital technologies. Working with Liquid Cloud, access to the local cloud will be available to more organisations and highly regulated industries across the continent. In addition, hybrid cloud provides in-country resources that address data-residency, latency, and storage requirements."

Cloud service providers are extending their reach in Africa with the latest announcement of Google’s cloud region in South Africa.

According to analysis by Research and Markets, global cloud service providers such as AWS, Microsoft, IBM, and Oracle are expanding their presence with new cloud regions.

There is an opportunity for vendors to grow in suburban areas and fuel the demand for hyperscale datacentres in Africa, it said.

According to the research: “The new entrants have a strong opportunity with new innovative technologies of infrastructure in the Africa cloud datacentre. In addition, the threat of acquisitions is to be also high since global datacentre operators acquire existing datacentres in the region.”