Intelligent Data Centres Issue 12 | Page 26

PROJECT FOCUS EUROPE Microsoft has announced plans to establish the company’s first cloud region in Israel to deliver its intelligent, trusted cloud services through a local data centre region. This investment expands the Microsoft global cloud infrastructure to 56 cloud regions in 21 countries, with the new Israel region anticipated to be available starting with Microsoft Azure in 2021, with Office 365 to follow. The new region will become part of one of the largest cloud infrastructures in the world. EUROPE At the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, an alliance of academia and industry representatives announced the Swiss Data Center Efficiency Label with the initial goal to decarbonise data centres in Switzerland and significantly reduce their overall energy consumption. Initiated by industry association, digitalswitzerland, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), the alliance has founded the Swiss Datacenter Efficiency Association (SDEA), which will own the assessment and award process for the label. 26 Issue 12 www.intelligentdatacentres.com