What you need to know
- Microsoft and Belgium have teamed up for the country's "Digital AmBEtion" plan.
- The plan is designed to help more fully bring the country's public and private sectors into the cloud era.
- Microsoft announced it's planning on establishing a new datacenter region in Belgium to further bolster local cloud operations.
Microsoft continues to expand its reach, stretching its tentacles far from the home base of Redmond, Washington, all the way across the pond to Belgium, where it's committed itself to helping bolster the country's cloud infrastructure in a few key departments.
In the company's announcement post on the subject, it's stated that Microsoft and Belgium have teamed up for a "Digital AmBEtion" plan designed to get the country's public and private sectors up to snuff in the digital era of the cloud.
As to what Microsoft will actually do to help Belgium, it outlined three key areas of impact: "providing world-class digital infrastructure, helping citizens develop digital skills, and creating sustainable societal impact."
In more concrete terms, Microsoft will be establishing a new datacenter region in the country, which will help with local data residency and enable Belgian organizations to have better, faster cloud access. On the whole, Microsoft Cloud and its enhanced presence in Belgium are projected to boost the country's revenue totals and create over 60,000 jobs.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo shared thoughts on the partnership. "Microsoft has made a strong choice by choosing Belgium as the location for its next datacenter region," he stated. "This commitment is coupled with investments that once again strengthen our digital competitiveness and will also help create new economic opportunities across the country – opportunities that will benefit all the players in our ecosystem."
