News

Oracle Opens A New Cloud Region In Abu Dhabi

Oracle aims to operate a network of at least 44 cloud regions globally by the end of 2022.

Published

5 years ago

November 13, 2021

David Morelo

oracle opens a new cloud region in abu dhabi

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The demand for cloud computing has surged massively in the Middle East since the outbreak of the pandemic, and companies like Oracle are happy to meet it.

Earlier this week, the Texas-based company announced the opening of its second cloud region in the United Arab Emirates, providing local businesses with global, secure, and high-performance environments that they can use to support their workloads.

The new cloud region is located in Abu Dhabi, and, together with the older Dubai region, it supports the UAE’s Fourth Industrial Revolution Strategy.

“With the Dubai and Abu Dhabi Regions, we have the required cloud infrastructure for organizations across public and private sectors, including SMBs, to accelerate their digital transformation,” said Oracle’s executive vice president of Technology for the EMEA region, Richard Smith.

According to Oracle, the main benefits of the Abu Dhabi Region for local businesses include easier data compliance, reduced costs, enhanced performance, superior resiliency, higher availability, improved customer experiences, and more. Because the region is built on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), new customers should be able to migrate existing workloads with ease.

Also Read: UAE Central Bank Establishes Cybersecurity Operations Center

Oracle is a major player in the Middle East, and its clients include everyone from Abu Dhabi Customs to Emaar Properties to Mashreq Bank. Jae Sook Evans, Oracle’s chief information officer, said that the Middle East is a priority region for the company.

Oracle aims to operate a network of at least 44 cloud regions globally by the end of 2022. Currently, it has 34 cloud regions globally, with new regions also set to open in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Its largest competitors in the Middle East include IBM, Amazon Web Services, SAP, and Alibaba Cloud.

The cloud market in the Middle East is forecasted to reach over $8.79 Billion by 2022, up from $2.17 Billion in 2016.

News

NEOPAY Wants To Follow Merchants Across Channels And Borders

A controlling 65% stake in noon payments would give NEOPAY access to marketplace sellers, online merchants and the payment flows they generate.

Published

1 day ago

October 5, 2026

Nour Nasir

neopay wants to follow merchants across channels and borders

It’s been a long time since checkouts were single defined places. A merchant might take payments at a physical register, on its own website and through an online marketplace, sometimes in more than one country. NEOPAY wants to follow those transactions wherever they happen.

The UAE payments company has entered into an agreement to acquire a 65% controlling stake in noon payments. NEOPAY already runs the acquiring infrastructure that lets merchants accept card payments, along with omnichannel acceptance and a merchant services platform. This new deal would add noon payments’ embedded payments platform, e-commerce gateway and merchant network across the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. That would considerably expand both NEOPAY’s digital commerce capabilities and its regional reach.

For merchants, the attraction is a single provider for online and in-store payments, plus faster settlements, data and analytics, and value-added financial services.

“Payments should be simple, reliable, and built for the markets they serve,” said Faraz Khalid, CEO of noon. His counterpart at NEOPAY, Vibhor Mundhada, added: “We have built a strong payments business in the UAE, and our ambition is now to take that capability across the region”. The acquisition, Mundhada added, would “expand our footprint into Saudi Arabia and Egypt” while reinforcing NEOPAY’s position at home.

Also Read: In Kuwait, Your Surgeon Might Be Operating From Another Country

NEOPAY is also keen to point out potential payment volume increases. The company says noon payments’ integrations with marketplace sellers and online merchants create high transaction density in some of the region’s fastest-growing digital commerce segments. It also believes control of the business would give it access to those merchant relationships and payment flows, and speed up the rollout of alternative payment methods and installment options.

The combined roadmap targets faster merchant onboarding, better payment performance, tighter fraud controls and embedded financial services. The deal could also strengthen cross-border payments and settlement along key regional commerce corridors.