Oracle adds cloud data centers in five countries, sets new 2020 target

After a rocky start in the cloud business, Oracle, a longtime business software provider, is rolling out its second generation of cloud systems, in which it operates data centers and customers rent capacity from it, Reuters reports.

Amazon Web Services and Microsoft are the two top players with more than two-thirds of the global market in 2019, according to Forrester Research, but Oracle is trying to win customers by extending its geographical reach.

Clay Magouyrk, the executive vice president of engineering in Oracle’s cloud unit, said new data privacy regulations in the European Union and elsewhere mean many businesses must retain data in the country where it is generated, making it important to offer them cloud data centers in as many places as possible.

Oracle’s goal is to have at least two “regions,” in each country where it operates, so that customers can have one primary region and one as a backup in case of disaster, he said.