Microsoft opens top cloud data processing hub in Poland

WARSAW, Poland — Microsoft said Wednesday it has launched a cloud service “region” in central Poland, the first large-scale data storage and processing hub of its kind in Central and Eastern Europe. The cloud region, which is part of Microsoft’s $1 billion IT transformation plan for Poland, consists of three separate physical locations around Warsaw. Ralph Haupter, Microsoft’s president for Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced the launch while attending the European Economic Congress in Katowice, southern Poland. The new datacenter region comes “in response to growing demand for high-performance computing and fast and reliable access to Microsoft Cloud services,” the IT giant said in a statement.