Amazon to open Johannesburg cloud technology hub
17 August 2015
Amazon will open its new Johannesburg office during 2015/16, recruiting over
250 local engineers, network specialists, media specialists and other technology
staff to service the growing number of Amazon Web Services (AWS) clients in South
Africa, Africa and the rest of the world.
The service provides cloud technology and storage offerings to businesses,
including web start-ups, SMMEs and governments. The first Amazon Web Services
office in South Africa – the Amazon Cape Town Development Centre - opened in
2004, and now the increasingly popular service requires a second location to
manage business demand.
"Amazon has been an active contributor to the South African technology
community for over a decade," said Steve Midgley, head of Amazon Web Services
for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and now, with the new expansion and
creation of jobs, the company intends to further accelerate the growth of cloud
customers in
Africa and around the globe. "Over (ten years) we have seen some
key technologies of the AWS cloud emerge from the country, so it is no surprise we
are also seeing strong growth amongst African organisations moving to the cloud.
Choosing to locate an office in South Africa speaks to the rapidly growing customer
base, the broad set of talent here and the investment we are making to support
cloud adoption around the world," Midgley said.
The Amazon Cape Town Development Centre was established to facilitate the
operations of the company's Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) service, and
while that office will continue drive the service, the Johannesburg office will focus
more on developing new products for the cloud service, designed specifically for
Africa and regions outside of Europe and the United States.
South African companies using Amazon Web Services include Standard Bank,
MTN and Travelstart.
Travelstart, one of Africa’s largest online travel
booking websites, operates in
more than 15 countries in Africa and the Middle East. Anders Bäck, Travelstart Chief
Technology Officer welcomes the Amazon expansion, saying "thanks to the pay-as-
you-go nature of AWS, we have been able to grow our Middle Eastern websites in
leaps and bounds while reducing operating costs." Without active support structure
on the ground for cloud storage technology, says Bäck, would be unachievable for
South African companies looking for international expansion.
Amazon are currently accepting relevant employment applications for the new
Johannesburg site through their corporate website.
Source: News24Wire
