Telkom-owned IT services firm BCX – previously Business Connexion – has launched Alibaba Cloud public cloud services in South Africa, providing an alternative to US cloud services from Amazon, Microsoft and Google. BCX partnered with the Chinese-owned and Singapore-based cloud services provider Alibaba Cloud as it aims to expand its share of the burgeoning African cloud services market.
The new offering, called Africa Local Public (ALP) Cloud, was launched at an event at BXC’s headquarters in Pretoria on Thursday.
BCX aims to combine its physical presence in five African countries with Alibaba Cloud’s software catalogue. “Seventy-five percent of African organisations are going to build digital transformation models based on cloud technology and run their operations in the cloud by 2026,” said BCX CEO Jonas Bogoshi. At the same time, African economies are growing faster than the world average with end-user spending expected to grow to US$597-billion in that time. “This represents a huge opportunity.”
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BCX aims to combine its physical presence in five African countries – South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia – with Alibaba Cloud’s software catalogue, which boasts “more than 200 offerings” of XaaS (anything -as-a-service) solutions, some with a sector specific focus.
“We are focusing on enabling businesses that are at the vortex of digital transformation: health care, retail, financial services and media – with government just outside of that,” said Bogoshi.
According the terms the two parties have agreed to, BCX is the exclusive provider of Alibaba Cloud solutions in regions where the Telkom subsidiary has a presence.
“We understand the needs of our customers in South Africa and on the continent, so we determine and guide Alibaba on what products to bring to the cloud based on customer demand,” said BCX chief digital platforms solutions officer Jan Bouwer. “We have an agreement to bring their products into the environment on the timelines that we determine.”
Bogoshi explained that ALP Cloud will protect its clients against exchange rate volatility by charging in local currency while using BCX’s local presence to ensure data sovereignty for high-security clients such as the public and financial sectors.
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ALP Cloud has been deployed in two data centres locally, both of which are in Gauteng. BCX aims to build a third data centre in Cape Town as well as another one outside of the country to serve as a disaster recovery centre “in one of South Africa’s neighbouring countries”.
“The launch of ALP Cloud serves multiple purposes, one of which accentuates our dedication to maintaining a local presence. As a result, when our customers opt for BCX local cloud services, they will be directly connecting with and supported by a South African company,” BCX said.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry