center3 by stc, a regional data center and data services provider, has announced a strategic collaboration with Oracle to provide hosting and data services for the planned Oracle Cloud Riyadh Region as well as support the expansion of the existing Oracle Cloud Jeddah Region. This will help accelerate the rollout of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) services to support the increasing cloud computing demands of private and public sector organizations in Saudi Arabia.
The planned Oracle Cloud Riyadh Region is part of a US$1.5 billion investment from Oracle to expand cloud infrastructure capabilities in the Kingdom. The Oracle Cloud Riyadh Region will be the sixth Oracle Cloud region operating in the Middle East, joining another planned cloud region to be located in the futuristic city of NEOM. Oracle currently operates four cloud regions in the Middle East and is currently one of the few major cloud providers to offer a cloud region in the Kingdom with the existing Oracle Cloud Jeddah Region.
This collaboration represents a significant milestone for center3, aligning with the company’s commitment to Saudi Arabia’s 2030 vision and the digital transformation of the region connecting Asia, Africa and Europe. The initiative is expected to bring significant economic benefits to Saudi Arabia and the Middle East.
Fahad A. Alhajeri, CEO of center3, a subsidiary of the stc Group, stated, "This strategic collaboration will allow us to grow our business and support the digital economy of the region. We are confident that this long-term partnership will empower both center3 and Oracle to achieve new heights of success."
Nick Redshaw, SVP of Middle East and Africa, Cloud Tech Oracle, said, "Oracle is driving one of the fastest expansions of cloud services offered by any major cloud vendor in Saudi Arabia to help boost cloud computing capacity in the Kingdom. We are delivering unmatched innovation in the cloud with comprehensive AI and machine learning capabilities already embedded into our infrastructure and applications for HR, finance, supply chain and sales teams. We are well positioned to deliver powerful generative AI services that will help organizations solve today’s most complex challenges. These unique capabilities and our collaboration with center3 will further support the growth of the country’s digital economy.”
As part of stc Group’s broader focus on digital enablement, center3 is rapidly establishing itself as a leading player in the regional and global digital ecosystem. With its comprehensive portfolio of data centers and data services, center3 positions itself as a one-stop-shop for digital services in the Middle East, Asia, Europe and Africa.
OCI’s multiple cloud regions in the Middle East are a component of its distributed cloud strategy, which offers multiple deployment options to address differing customer needs in regulatory requirements, data residency or latency reduction. For example, OCI customers can also address demanding data residency, security and sovereignty requirements by running their applications in a self-contained OCI Dedicated Region where all hosted data remains local and private with a customer-controlled data center.