Oracle aiming to build cloud data centre in Abu Dhabi

Above, the Oracle headquarters in Redwood City, California. Justin Sullivan / Getty Images / AFP

Oracle plans to develop a cloud data centre in Abu Dhabi and hire 250 new salespeople as it taps rising demand for information storage.

The company’s co-chief executive, Mark Hurd, speaking at a press conference in the capital yesterday, declined to comment on when the new data centre would become operational, but said that it would “probably” be up and running before the end of the year.

Hiring would begin immediately and may be drawn from the 68 recent graduates of the company’s joint programme with the Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre, launched a year ago to train Emiratis in IT skills.

Mr Hurd declined to comment on Oracle’s current headcount in the UAE and the Middle East, but said that its employee base had doubled in the past three years, two years ahead of the company’s original predictions.

“As companies turn to cloud computing to modernise their business and drive innovation, we are seeing significant demand for Oracle Cloud – in the Middle East and around the world,” said Loic Le Guisquet, Oracle’s president for Emea and Asia Pacific.

“We are investing in the infrastructure to support this demand by hiring new, top sales talent and by building new data centres.

“The Middle East is an important region for us and we will continue to invest here.”

Officials declined to comment on the level of revenue and customer growth in the Middle East compared with other ­regions.

In addition to the data centre in Abu Dhabi, the company is also planning to open offices in Dubai Internet City, Amman and Riyadh during the coming year.

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