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Today, the Microsoft Cloud takes another leap forward in our mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. I’m proud to announce Microsoft Azure is generally available from local datacenter regions located in Toronto and Quebec City, Office 365 is now offering data residency for business customers in Canada, and in South Korea, we will expand the Microsoft Cloud from new datacenter regions, including a datacenter region based in Seoul.

As one of the largest cloud operators in the world, Microsoft has invested more than $15 billion (USD) in building a resilient cloud infrastructure and cloud services that are highly available and secure while lowering overall costs. With the introduction of new regions in Korea, Microsoft has now announced 32 Azure regions around the world with 24 generally available today – more than any other major cloud provider.

This latest investment is further proof of Microsoft's commitment to empower customers to embrace a cloud-first world on their terms and is expected to accelerate public and hybrid cloud adoption within Korea. Businesses in Korea and throughout Asia Pacific will be able use the massive computing power available locally to fuel growth, spur innovation and accelerate digital transformation.

“This news shows us the clear evidence that Microsoft actively responds to market needs. The announcement of Microsoft’s investment in datacenter regions is very meaningful in the sense that Microsoft has a strong vision for Korea, a country that is a clear leader in the global gaming industry.” – Taeyoung Kim, CEO, WEBZEN 

“The ultimate goal of driving innovation through cloud services is to reduce the total cost in business operation and maximize IT efficiency to achieve business agility.  I believe that the expansion of the Microsoft Cloud in Korea will create big momentum for many Korean companies to very actively adopt cloud services.” – Chan Park, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), JYP Entertainment

In Canada the transformation is underway. The Microsoft Cloud is now providing Azure and Office 365 business customers with the benefits of enterprise-grade reliability and performance combined with data residency. This includes data replication in multiple locations within the country for business continuity and the option of a private connection to the public cloud with Azure ExpressRoute. Microsoft Cloud customers in Canada will also be able to benefit from Dynamics CRM Online coming in Q3 2016.

“Working with Microsoft is a tremendous opportunity for Nova Scotia. We encourage innovation and we are excited to be taking advantage of the newly opened Microsoft Canadian data centre where we will begin moving more than 35,000 users to the Microsoft Canadian cloud over the coming years. Nova Scotia continues to be an innovative leader in Canada in many areas and this solution supports this visionary type of thinking.” – Labi Kousoulis, Minister Internal Services, Province of Nova Scotia

The new cloud regions available in Canada and those coming to Korea will feature the same industry-leading levels of security, privacy and control, compliance, and transparency that define the Microsoft Trusted Cloud globally and will help spur technology innovations and economic opportunity. Customers choosing Microsoft Cloud services benefit from the company’s experience in enterprise computing and hybrid cloud – offering everything from optimization of compute resources to higher-level services for advanced analytics, media services, the Internet of Things (IoT), and big data. In addition, the Microsoft Cloud provides best-in-class productivity and collaboration across all of the major device platforms.

“The core of cloud service is security. Microsoft Azure is perceived as the trusted cloud service as it has numerous certifications from many international organizations. I hope the Microsoft announcement today provides Korea with an opportunity to increase awareness of the need for security in cloud services.” – Chun Shik Park, Professor of Information Security of Seoul Women’s University and the former Chairman, KIISC (Korea Institute of Information Security and Cryptology)

The Microsoft Cloud is a global leader in compliance, with the broadest portfolio of certifications in the industry. Azure, Office 365, and Dynamics CRM Online have received ISO 27001 certification and are audited under the SSAE 16/ISAE 3402 SOC 1 and SOC 2 standards. In addition, Microsoft was the first cloud service provider to adopt the uniform international code of practice for cloud privacy and data protection, ISO/IEC 27018, which provides guidelines for protection of personally identifiable information.

With Canada regions now live and serving customers locally, and the announcement of our cloud expansion in Korea, I am truly excited to enable our customers to leverage the power of the cloud!

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