Microsoft launched its cloud computing service, Azure, in southern Brazil yesterday, making the service ready for commercial use.
The firm will now be offering service level agreement to organisations that have subscribed to Azure. Microsoft said that existing customers in the Brazil region will now benefit from increased network redundancy, lower latency and increased durability.
Microsoft does have a data centre in São Paulo, but Azure’s georedundant storage was not previously located in the country. The service was instead located in the US South Central region in Texas.
Microsoft’s scattering of data centres around the world also acts as a workaround to regional laws protecting the exporting of data.
Microsoft said: "Already, customers such as credit rating company Boa Vista Servicos, business management software provider Totvs, computing systems provider SiplanControl-M and e-commerce website platform Shop Delivery are benefiting from the power of the cloud. Today, we are excited to help our customers in Brazil harness that power so they can transform their businesses."
Microsoft Azure recently expanded its data centre regional operations into both China and Japan, with southern Brazil adding to the ever growing list of Azure’s global regions. The others include Asia Pacific East, Asia Pacific Southeast, Japan East, Japan West, Europe North, Europe West, US West, US East, US South Central, US North Central. There are also two new data centres planned for Australia.
Amazon Web Services pushed into South America in 2011 with a data centre being constructed in São Paulo. Earlier this year, it also added a second location in Rio de Janeiro.
