New offering will help government entities, regulated industries and other organisations modernise critical workloads and advance AI adoption with greater local control over their data, infrastructure and operations

MEEZA, Qatar’s leading Managed IT Services and Data Centres provider, and Microsoft today announced plans to bring Microsoft Sovereign Private Cloud to organisations in Qatar with Azure Local as the foundation.

Delivered from MEEZA’s local data-centre environment and supported by its connectivity and end-to-end managed-services capabilities, the offering will enable customers to run selected critical, regulated and sensitive workloads on cloud-consistent infrastructure deployed and operated within Qatar.

As organisations across Qatar accelerate digital transformation and explore new opportunities presented by artificial intelligence, government entities, critical-infrastructure operators and regulated industries must balance innovation with requirements for data residency, security, resilience and operational control. The new offering is designed to give these organisations greater choice over where and how their applications, data and infrastructure are deployed and managed.

Under the planned service model, Microsoft will provide the Azure Local technology underpinning the environment, while MEEZA will provide the Qatar-based data-centre infrastructure, hardware, connectivity, deployment and ongoing managed services. This combination will give customers access to a locally delivered environment, a consistent Azure operating model and a single local service provider to support the full lifecycle of their deployment.

The offering will support a hybrid-cloud approach, allowing organisations to place workloads in the environment that best matches their operational, security and regulatory requirements. Customers will be able to run selected workloads in MEEZA-hosted Azure Local environments and connect to Microsoft Azure public-cloud services where appropriate, providing a foundation for future modernisation as their business and technology requirements evolve.

MEEZA’s high-capacity connectivity services are planned to connect customers’ private-cloud environments with Microsoft Azure. This will provide the infrastructure foundation for hybrid-cloud scenarios, business continuity and disaster recovery, including the ability to replicate and recover eligible workloads between Microsoft Azure and MEEZA-hosted Azure Local environments, subject to the services and architecture selected by each customer.

For government entities, MEEZA’s connectivity to Qatar’s Government Network is planned to provide a dedicated route to eligible Azure Local workloads hosted in MEEZA’s data-centre environment without relying on the public internet. Together with MEEZA’s local operations and managed services, this will provide a resilient foundation for government, regulated and mission-critical workloads.

The locally delivered service model is intended to help organisations modernise applications, reduce latency, support business continuity and apply consistent security and governance across their hybrid-cloud environments. It will also provide flexible options for scaling infrastructure and workloads while retaining greater local control over data and operations.

Mr. Mohamed Ali Al-Ghaithani, Chief Executive Officer of MEEZA, said:

“This offering represents an important step in MEEZA’s commitment to enabling Qatar’s digital transformation and addressing the growing demand for secure and sovereign cloud services. By combining Microsoft Azure technology with MEEZA’s local infrastructure, connectivity, data centre capabilities, and managed services, we can provide customers with a comprehensive cloud environment delivered and managed locally in Qatar.

“Our key differentiator is our ability to bring the entire technology ecosystem together through a single trusted partner. From infrastructure and connectivity to cloud technology, local data residency, security, and ongoing managed services, MEEZA can support customers across the complete lifecycle of their cloud environment.

Mr. Ahmad El Dandachi, Country General Manager, Microsoft Qatar, said:

“As Qatar accelerates its digital transformation and AI ambitions, organisations need greater choice in how they deploy and operate critical workloads. Microsoft Sovereign Private Cloud, with Azure Local as its infrastructure foundation, brings Azure capabilities into locally operated environments and gives customers greater control over where their infrastructure, workloads and data reside.

“Together with MEEZA, we are creating a locally delivered option for organisations in Qatar that need to balance cloud and AI innovation with sovereignty, resilience, security and operational-control requirements. This will provide a trusted foundation for government, regulated-industry and mission-critical workloads, while supporting each organisation’s broader hybrid-cloud strategy.”

Through the offering, organisations will have access to a single local provider supporting their environment from initial assessment and deployment through to ongoing operations. The integrated delivery model is designed to simplify private-cloud adoption and application modernisation while giving customers greater control over their infrastructure, workloads and data.

The planned introduction of Microsoft Sovereign Private Cloud, underpinned by Azure Local and delivered through MEEZA’s local infrastructure and managed services, will further strengthen Qatar’s cloud ecosystem. It will support the country’s ambition to develop secure, resilient and sovereign digital infrastructure capable of enabling the next generation of cloud and AI innovation.