Angola Cables becomes Microsoft ExpressRoute partner
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Angola Cables becomes Microsoft ExpressRoute partner

Angola Cables has become a Microsoft ExpressRoute partner enabling it to meet the needs of African organisations migrating business applications and IT infrastructures to the cloud.

Using the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, Angola Cables has created ACloud Connect to provide what they describe as dedicated, high-quality connections to a worldwide network of 42 Azure regions offered by Microsoft and connectivity to Angonap which is Angola Cables’ data centre located in Luanda.

Commenting on the news, Antonio Nunes, CEO at Angola Cables, said: “We see ACloud Connect as a natural extension of customers’ own IT infrastructures. In addition to benefiting from the scale and economics of Microsoft Azure, Africa-based customers should also look forward to low latency services.”

Azure allows organisations to extend on-premises networks into the cloud over a private connection. And because ExpressRoute connections do not go over the public internet, customers experience better connectivity than conventional connections.

ACloud Connect is expected to be available in November 2017, where it will initially concentrate on servicing Angola and South Africa-based organisations. It will offer dedicated Ethernet links between customers’ infrastructures and Azure’s data centres– as well as running one of the worlds most advanced IP / MPLS backbones.

“Microsoft’s enterprise experience and approach to the cloud addresses customers’ needs in a differentiated way. Our unique approach to the cloud spans three areas that, when combined, give customers the most choice and flexibility with the cloud: enterprise capabilities, global cloud infrastructure, and comprehensive hybrid solutions,” said Laurence Janssens, country manager at Microsoft Southern Africa.

Additionally, the Azure cloud platform will help protect organisations’ online assets as they look to expand globally, while maintaining ‘data residency’ on the African continent, which complements NAPAfrica in South Africa, which offers peering across sub-Saharan Africa.

“Through the partnership with Microsoft, Angola Cables seems to be making all the right moves to become a key enabler of cloud adoption on the continent. The impact on latency and the cost of bandwidth will make cloud an even more viable option for enterprises across Africa. This will also see greater demand from small and medium enterprises (SMEs), a segment of the market that typically drives cloud adoption in some of the more developed countries. With SACS due to go live in 2018, Angola is well-positioned to become an important technology hub in the region. These types of partnerships, along with the impending arrival of new cables like SACS, can provide the platform for greater cloud uptake across the rest of the continent as well,” added Lehlohhonolo Mokenela, industry analyst for the digital transformation practice at Frost & Sullivan Africa.

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