Microsoft Azure Now Available in 2 Japanese Regions update from February 2014

Microsoft Windows Azure cloud is now available in Japan within two availability zones: Japan East (Saitama Prefecture) and Japan West (Osaka Prefecture). Microsoft has already invested more than $15 billion in its cloud infrastructure providing more than 200 cloud services to more than 1 billion customers in 90 markets worldwide.

“These new regions will help fulfill the current and future needs of our cloud customers with secure and highly available services that help them grow their business,” wrote Takeshi Numoto, Corporate Vice President, Cloud and Enterprise Marketing, Microsoft. “In addition, they provide local customers the ability to achieve data residency and realize data recovery scenarios, as data will be replicated between the two regions.”

Japan is an interesting cloud market. It's considered as a separate entity from the general Asia Pacific market as it’s a very insular culture. Japanese businesses want their cloud computing to be within the borders of Japan, and companies serving Japan need to host on cloud within the country in order to be successful. The cloud market forecast in Japan for 2014 is estimated at around $1.6 billion (170 billion Yen), according to IDC. In Japan alone, storage usage for Windows Azure has grown 10-fold in the last 15 months.

According to Numoto’s blog post, demand for Windows Azure is increasing so significantly that the company is doubling capacity every six to nine months. More than 1,000 customers a day signing up for Azure

“As we continue at this growth rate, we will work with our customers and partners to ensure that we provide the value and support needed,” wrote Numoto. “We look forward to growing Japan’s cloud market, offering customers new options while helping push cloud adoption forward across the globe.”