Microsoft has demonstrated the impact of its growing Microsoft’s datacentre region in Qatar, in partnership with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) on the sidelines of ‘Lead the Era of AI’ event.
The event comes on the eve of the datacentre’s second anniversary and in response to the surge in demand from businesses across all industries in Qatar and the region, for intelligent, secure, scalable, and resilient enterprise-grade cloud services to accelerate their Artificial Intelligence (AI) transformation and innovation journeys.
The increasing demand for Microsoft’s highly trusted cloud services is being driven by interest in the latest developments in cutting-edge, advanced AI technologies such as generative AI that are unlocking increasing possibilities for businesses of all sizes across Qatar to not only optimise their operations and tackle key challenges, but also enhance the productivity and creativity of their workforce.
Enabling access
The expansion of the datacentre region will further enable access to these latest AI developments for public and private sector organisations in Qatar and empower them to effectively leverage these innovations to thrive in the new AI-powered era.
Sami Al Shammari, Assistant Undersecretary for Infrastructure and Operations Affairs at MCIT, said that the expansion of the Microsoft datacentre region in Qatar is a testament to the Ministry’s steadfast commitment to empowering organisations across Qatar to not only embrace the new era of AI innovation, but to also shape it.
“With the latest advancements in AI at their fingertips, public and private sector enterprises in Qatar are well positioned to drive progress towards the ambitious Digital Agenda 2030 aiming to make Qatar a smart and technologically advanced country.”
Lana Khalaf, General Manager, Microsoft Qatar, noted that the exponential growth of cloud and AI applications demands robust infrastructure to ensure their effective development and deployment.
“By further building out the datacentre region, we are unlocking unprecedented possibilities for AI-driven innovation across Qatar. Organisations will be able to harness the power of Microsoft’s trusted cloud to unlock the full potential of AI to enhance decision-making, transform industries, and drive sustainable economic growth.”
At the heart
Since its launch in 2022, Microsoft’s datacentre region has been at the heart of Microsoft’s mission to help businesses across Qatar’s public and private sectors to innovate in their industries and accelerate business growth, while addressing their data residency, lower latency, security, privacy, and compliance needs.
Various organisations in Qatar have leveraged the advanced capabilities of these solutions to create and deploy their own innovative AI solutions that tackle key challenges, while paving the way for greater productivity, and enhanced experiences for their customers and employee. Qatar e-Government Portal - Hukoomi, for example, was one of the first government portals in Qatar to put Azure OpenAI Service and GPT to work, offering government entities advanced AI models to revolutionise citizen experiences, while maximising value outcomes.
Meanwhile, Qatar Foundation harnessed the trusted capabilities of Microsoft Azure AI Cognitive Services to create its bilingual chatbot, BOTaina. Similarly, Invest Qatar utilised Azure OpenAI Service to develop Ai.SHA, an AI-powered chatbot that creates unique experiences for investors locally and internationally.
During the ‘Lead the Era of AI’, Microsoft celebrated the most innovative organisations with the ‘AI Innovation Awards’. These awards recognise institutions that have demonstrated unparalleled excellence in driving digital transformation and creating a positive societal impact through the use of AI. The awardees were: Qatar Airways, Power International Holding (PIH), Real-Time Crowd and Transportation Management of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology - TASMU Programme, Ashghal, Kahramaa, Hayya, Invest Qatar, the Civil Service and Government Development Bureau, the Supreme Judiciary Council, Al Jazeera Media Group and Qatar News Agency.
Microsoft’s cloud datacentre region in Qatar forms part of the company’s network of over 60 datacentre regions in 140 countries, which are today empowering businesses of all sizes with access to Microsoft’s expanding portfolio of highly innovative cloud and AI services to invent the future.