Oracle launched its new, highly secure underground cloud region in Jerusalem Wednesday, the first global cloud provider to open a cloud region in the country.
Oracle CEO Safra Catz alluded to the launch when she spoke at the Jerusalem Post Annual Conference Tuesday, mentioning that a big announcement was coming this week.
The launch was attended by Economy Minister Orna Barbivay, Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel, and Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion.
The facility is based in a reinforced underground facility to provide the highest levels of security against physical attacks, such as missile strikes.
The data center extends over four floors at a depth of 50 m. below ground level. Spread across thousands of meters, it is designed to be one of the most secure in the Middle East, providing advanced cloud services to companies in Israel’s defense industry, government, banks, insurance companies, infrastructure, technology, retail and more.
This cloud region will offer all Oracle Cloud services, the company said. The facility is run in partnership with Bynet Data Communications.
Oracle will also work with the Israeli government to help it further understand how to use cloud services to deliver better services to citizens across the country.
“Companies and government entities need to move to cloud quickly, and Oracle’s new underground cloud region in Jerusalem makes that possible,” said Oracle CEO Safra Catz. “This Oracle Cloud region will bring all the cost, performance and security benefits of Oracle Cloud to the State of Israel today, not next month or next year.”
Oracle also announced plans for a second underground cloud region in the country, as part of its dual-region strategy. This will provide customers with even stronger business continuity and disaster recovery capabilities, as well as ensuring that all their data remains within Israel, the technology giant said.
“Oracle’s plans to open a second cloud region is demonstrative of our continued commitment to the State of Israel,” said Eran Feigenbaum, Oracle Israel’s country manager. “We worked to provide Israel with the first cloud from any major cloud vendor and now we are planning a second region, which will enable more customers to benefit from the complete set of cloud services Oracle offers and improve disaster recovery.”
Oracle employs some 135,000 workers worldwide, including some 400 in Israel. Its CEO, Safra Catz is a native of Holon.