Microsoft’s investment in Greece gets a fast-track go-ahead. Pictured is the Microsoft headquarters in Munich, Germany. Credit: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0/WikipediaGreece’s state agency Enterprise Greece has given its approval on Monday to fast-track a 100 million euros ($110 million) Microsoft investment project for three data centers in the country.
The project will create the data centers at Spata and Koropi in the Attica region, and provide technical business support and cloud computing services to Greece. It is also expected to create 300 new jobs over 10 years.
Data centers are used to store, process, and share large amounts of data to users, while cloud computing refers to the provision of computing resources via the Internet (e.g., servers, apps, etc.), from central systems that are located far from the final user and could reach them by automated processes, providing a variety of services and connection flexibility.
Microsoft has been operating in Greece since 1992, and maintains about 200 data centers in 34 countries, interconnected with more than 165,000 miles of submarine, land, and metropolitan areas of fiber optics. Microsoft Cloud already serves at least one billion customers and 20 million companies worldwide.
“The implementation of this investment is of great importance for the Greek economy as it expands the country’s information and communication technologies sector and capabilities, and confirms that the Greek ICT industry offers unique opportunities for investment in value-added services with a global reach,” Ioannis Smyrlis of Enterprise Greece said.
