European cloud infrastructure provider OVH, in a bid to expand globally, has opened its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Melbourne. The tech unicorn will be seen hiring 80 locals to build a strong team within the next three years.
This development will enable the company to support its customers through global expansion, while responding to the increasing demand for outsourced digital infrastructures all across the world. The French company currently operates 20 data centres across 19 countries. It has also opened data centres in Singapore and Sydney as part of its regional expansion.
In an interview to The Australian Financial Review, OVH vice-chairman Laurent Allard, said, the company’s expansion into APAC and the US was the part of its vision to become the global leader in cloud infrastructure-as-a-service.
The company has also committed to support local startups through its Digital LaunchPad program. It is expected to be active by the end of June and the selected startups will receive cloud infrastructure support worth up to $100,000. It is also in talks for a possible collaboration with LaunchVic, the state’s startup support authority, to boost the local start-up ecosystem.
Allard told the company zeroed on to Melbourne due its ‘high calibre talent pool, liveability and vibrancy of the start-up ecosystem.’ OVH, by extending its operations to the region, seems ready to compete with the likes of Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. It will now be able to serve its customers in the region, allowing it to maintain its operations that align with the market needs. Earlier this year, OVH had set up a wholly owned subsidiary in the US with the same objective. Mr. Allard stated,
Our business is global, but we have to have a global-local approach. Technology can be a great generic asset, but the business solutions require proximity.
OVH is exploring the opportunity to establish partnerships with major telecommunications providers and cloud application in the Asia-Pacific region to strengthen its services.
