News

Zoho Opens First UAE Data Centers For Local Cloud Solutions

The new Dubai and Abu Dhabi sites are part of an AED 100 million investment in the UAE that hopes to answer data sovereignty demands.

Published

8 months ago

January 14, 2026

Nour Nasir

Zoho

Zoho Corporation has opened its first UAE data centers, a Dubai – Abu Dhabi deployment that lets the software group host more than 100 cloud products locally. The sites span Zoho’s business apps and its enterprise brand ManageEngine, and sit within an AED 100 million investment pledge the firm made to the country in 2023.

Co-founder and CEO Shailesh Davey called the launch part of a wider commitment to the market, saying the centers would let customers “store their data locally, strengthening data sovereignty, and supporting National Cybersecurity Agenda”. He also linked the move to digital goals under Dubai Vision 2030.

Certification from the Dubai Electronic Security Center clears Zoho to serve government and semi-government work. The facilities also carry ISO 27001, ISO 22301, ISO 27017 and CSA STAR Level 2 compliance marks. Zoho’s Dubai office holds ISO 27001. For public buyers across the GCC, these stamps are becoming non-negotiable as cloud procurement tightens.

The UAE has been a growth engine for the company. Zoho reported 38.7% expansion in 2025, a 29% lift in partners and a 35% bump in headcount. Customer-experience tools, VAT-compliant accounting software, low-code development and collaboration suites led adoption. Over five years, the firm has invested AED 80 million to help more than 7,000 local businesses through deals with entities such as the Department of Economy and Tourism and Dubai Culture, pushing harder into enterprise accounts, which jumped 48% last year.

Also Read: Abu Dhabi Rolls Out Barq Ultra-Fast EV Chargers

Meanwhile, ManageEngine logged 20% growth in the UAE in 2025. Demand came from financial services, government and manufacturing. Adoption of its endpoint management, service management and observability products tracked a broader shift to cloud-first architectures, with hosted services growing around 35%. Davey said the combined portfolio would enable businesses of all sizes, and government and semi-government organizations adopt cloud technology for digital transformation in nearly every area of operation.

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Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.

Published

2 days ago

August 27, 2026

Dana Saadeh

visa's return to syria starts with a test and a bank in lebanon

Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.

The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc

— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026

“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.

Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.

Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget

The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.

Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.