Microsoft's investment in a data centre hub in Greece is going ahead as planned, while Pfizer intends to increase the recruitment of engineers for the digital centre established in Thessaloniki, Development and Investments Minister Adonis Georgiadis said.
The minister said that it is a product of hard work, organised intergovernmental work, and discussions with the previous and current US government, which "fully continues the same policy in the area of Greece-US relations".
The CEO of Microsoft Greece, Cyprus and Malta Theodosis Michalopoulos stated in October that “we will help in the digital transformation of the country” and pointed out that “the digital economy of a region runs within the Data Centers.”
It will be one of Microsoft’s first data centers in Europe which will store and manage data in the cloud computing.
The data center will also act as a regional centre for neighbouring countries.
It is also recalled that in January Amazon announced the opening of its first office in Athens, Greece.
The office will support organisations of all sizes, including startups, enterprises, and public sector agencies, as they make the transition to the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud.
The move comes as the government has stepped up efforts to attract foreign investment and draw high tech companies to Greece.
“We have seen increased customer adoption of AWS in the country and decided to open an office in Athens to better support new customers,” Przemek Szuder, the head of AWS operations in central and eastern Europe said in a statement.
No financial details were disclosed.
“We look forward to fostering the country’s pioneering spirit alongside our customers and helping them accelerate their digital transformation and deliver innovative new products and services to Greek customers and citizens,” he added.
AWS already provides cloud computing services to well-known startups and businesses in Greece including Beat, Deepsea Technologies, futurehome.gr, Madinad, Marpoint, Money Market, Orfium, Omilia, Wind Hellas, PAOK FC, and Xrysi Eukairia.
Services cover areas from big data analytics and mobile, web and social media applications to enterprise business applications and the internet of things.
Those looking to join the AWS Greece user group can click here.
READ MORE: Microsoft plans to build data centre hub for cloud services in Greece.
