Officially activated! Microsoft Azure adds new data center area in China

Microsoft and 21Vianet officially announced that from March 1, 2022, the new Azure data center region in China will be officially launched, and customers can access it without restrictions. This is the fifth Azure data center area of Microsoft Smart Cloud in the Chinese market, operated by its partner 21Vianet, which once again doubled the service capacity of Microsoft Smart Cloud Matrix in China.

Microsoft Azure, operated by 21Vianet, was released in 2012. In March 2014, Microsoft's intelligent cloud Azure opened two data center areas in China and officially put it into commercial use, becoming the first international public cloud to be commercialized in China. Since then, Microsoft Office 365, Dynamics 365 and Power Platform operated by 21Vianet have also landed in the Chinese market in 2014, 2019 and 2020.

Dr. Hou Yang, Senior Vice President of Microsoft, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft Greater China, said: "Whether it is a multinational enterprise developing in China, a Chinese company going global, or a company aiming to digitally transform business and processes in the cloud Enterprises have allowed us to see the rapid growth of the Chinese market's demand for global public cloud services. This strong demand has driven us to continuously expand and upgrade our cloud services in China in the past 8 years. We are committed to becoming the world's most comprehensive, The most secure cloud service , Microsoft Intelligent Cloud has empowered hundreds of thousands of developers, partners and customers at home and abroad, helping them achieve extraordinary achievements through technological innovation and business transformation. The new Azure region will further strengthen Microsoft's business, ecological The ability to innovate, grow and identify opportunities in a systems and sustainable future.”

Microsoft Smart Cloud, born for innovation

IDC's report shows that China has become the world's fastest-growing public cloud market, with a year-on-year growth rate of 49.7%. It is estimated that by 2024, the Chinese market will occupy more than 10.5% of the global market share. The rapid development of China's digital economy requires advanced technologies and services like Microsoft's intelligent cloud Azure to support its emerging digital innovation and industrial digital transformation.

With the launch of the new Azure data center region, Microsoft will better help customers and partners from China and around the world to seize the opportunities of China's digital development, and provide hybrid cloud and multi-cloud deployment, Internet of Things, edge computing, data intelligence, etc. capacity.

With new Azure data center regions coming into use, a series of cloud innovations will be launched in China in 2022, including: Availability Zone, which provides customers with an industry-leading 99.99% service level agreement (SLA) and The most comprehensive resiliency strategy that prevents large-scale failures by failing over to different zones when virtual machines are running in two or more Availability Zones. Azure Digital Twins is an IoT capability that enables customers to create "digital twins" of physical objects in the cloud; Azure Arc helps customers manage data and applications across hybrid and multi-cloud environments; Azure Database Flexible server deployment options for MySQL for maximum control over an organization's databases, high availability options to help ensure zero data loss, and built-in capabilities provided by the Azure ecosystem to reduce costs and increase productivity. Azure Purview is a unified data governance solution that helps users manage on-premises, multi-cloud and software-as-a-service (SaaS) data.

Jia Jin, President of Accenture's Greater China Enterprise Technology Innovation Group, said: "As a Microsoft global partner, we have been working closely with Microsoft for many years to develop and deploy industry digital solutions. With the launch of new Azure regions and services in China, we have covered End-to-end transformational service capabilities in a range of areas including infrastructure, platforms, data, IoT and cognitive computing will be further enhanced."

Microsoft Smart Cloud, helping sustainable development

Cloud computing dramatically increases efficiency and reduces the overall carbon footprint required to support global computing needs. As Microsoft's cloud computing capabilities continue to expand, we are also looking for breakthrough technologies to incorporate sustainable development concepts into the design and operation of data centers. The latest key advanced development initiatives for Microsoft Intelligent Cloud include:

• Reducing water use in data centers: A new approach to data center temperature management will further reduce water use in our global evaporative cooling data centers by 95% by 2024, or nearly 5.7 billion liters per year.
• Immersion Cooling Research, Exploring Possibilities of Waterless Cooling: Microsoft is the first cloud computing provider to operate a dual-phase immersion liquid cooling system in a production environment. Liquid cooling technology helps us increase the efficiency of power usage and cooling, thereby expanding the potential of Microsoft data center rack designs.
• Data center design that supports local ecosystems: Microsoft benchmarks how ecosystems operate in 12 data center regions, in terms of water, air, carbon, climate, biodiversity, etc., to rebuild the environment in the surrounding areas, Thus giving regenerative value to the society and the environment of the region.
• Reducing the carbon footprint in data center design and construction: To capture the carbon footprint associated with materials and construction processes throughout the life cycle of a building or infrastructure, we use a calculator called the “Building Embedded Carbon Calculator ( EC3)” tool to identify building materials that will reduce embodied carbon in concrete and steel by 30–60%. Some of these initiatives will be gradually adjusted for the new Azure regions in China.

In addition to investments in cloud infrastructure, Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability is now in public preview worldwide, allowing organizations to record, report and reduce carbon emissions to more effectively achieve net zero emission. It provides a common basis to ensure that carbon emissions are measured in an accurate, consistent, and reliable manner around the world. Now, both multinational and Chinese companies can use this product on Azure around the world to measure their sustainability efforts.

At the 2021 China International Import Expo, SGS China released the industry's first dual-standard S-Carbon digital carbon management intelligent cloud platform running on Microsoft's intelligent cloud Azure. Dr. Hao Jinyu, President of SGS China, said: "I believe that SGS' professional technical capabilities in the field of carbon emissions, combined with Microsoft's world-leading cloud platform, will truly help more Chinese enterprises to accelerate the realization of sustainable development strategies."

Ding Mincheng, Global Executive Director of Technology Group , said: "We are delighted to be Microsoft's zero-carbon technology partner to jointly provide customers with end-to-end zero-carbon solutions to help them achieve zero-carbon transformation and green development."
Zhu Yonghuan, vice president and general manager of Johnson Controls China, said: "From China to the world, we have joined hands with Microsoft to carry out in-depth cooperation on the design, construction, management of smart and sustainable buildings. The OpenBlue digital platform we developed and Microsoft cloud platform and Modern office technology is closely related and can help our customers build a modern work environment that is safer, more flexible and sustainable.”

Tan Yizhong, General Manager of Delta-Zhongda Dentsu Co., Ltd. said, "Delta has developed and launched an EMS energy management system for green factories using the Internet of Things, machine learning and other services of the Microsoft Azure platform and Power BI technology. This result can help our customers to more efficiently monitor, manage and save energy consumption, so as to truly achieve the goal of green factory."

Microsoft Smart Cloud, safe and compliant, trustworthy

Microsoft Intelligent Cloud consists of more than 200 physical data centers covering more than 34 markets around the world, providing services to more than 1 billion customers and 20 million companies around the world, and more than 95% of the "Fortune 500" enterprises use Microsoft Intelligent Cloud services. Microsoft Intelligent Cloud Platform with more than 100 compliance certifications worldwide, complies with industry and regulatory standards in China, Europe, the United States and many other global markets. In China, Microsoft Azure, operated by 21Vianet, has also obtained numerous local compliance certifications. For more information, see Center Compliance Document .

Microsoft Azure, operated by 21Vianet, is the first international public cloud service to realize commercial operation in China according to Chinese laws. As required by Chinese regulators, 21Vianet's Azure data center regions operated in China are physically isolated from the cloud services that Microsoft operates globally, but use the same cloud technology as other regions where Microsoft operates globally.

For more information about Microsoft's intelligent cloud services in China, please visit the official website of Microsoft Azure operated by 21Vianet .