Category: Events

by Rubén Rebollar 2024-06-13

Spain Central, Find out what’s new at the Microsoft Envision AI Connection  

Welcome to a new post on the Aleson ITC blog. In today’s article we tell you about the news that Microsoft announced at its Envision AI Connection event on 11 June, and what were the most relevant inputs revealed by Alberto Granados, President of Microsoft Spain and Jean Philippe Courtois, Executive Vice President & President, National Transformation Partnerships at Microsoft.

The event brought together customers and partners from Spain to present the latest developments in Responsive AI, offering their solutions, experiences and knowledge in the adoption of GenAI and then analyzing the impact it has on companies. 

Trends of the Microsoft Envision AI Connection  

The event was divided into 30 sessions, both technical and aimed at profiles with decision-making capacity in different areas of the business, seeking to focus on the impact of AI in organisations.  

The 30 sessions were divided into 6 themes:  

• New Cloud Region.  
• Realising the potential of AI.  
• AI for the enterprise.  
• Innovation for more technical IT audiences.  
• Education in AI time.  
• Impact of the ISV Venture Hub and Startup ecosystem.  

Microsoft’s new Cloud Region is now up and running  

Microsoft has announced the opening of its new cloud data centre region in Spain, called Spain Central. This strategic development has a number of key features:  

Location and Structure:  

• The new region is in the Community of Madrid and has three zones available.  
• Spain Central is positioned among the five priority cloud regions for Microsoft in Europe.  

Services it will offer:  

• It will provide key services such as data analytics, cybersecurity, computing, storage and generative artificial intelligence.  
• Jean-Philipe Courtois stressed that this infrastructure is central to Microsoft’s European AI strategy.  

Investment and Expansion:  

• Microsoft will invest $2.1bn in Spain during 2024-2025, including a data centre campus in Aragon.  
• Alberto Granados pointed out that Spain Central complies with European regulations, ensuring that data does not leave Europe.  

Certifications and Security:  

• The region has obtained CCN-CERT certification for the National Security Scheme (ENS) at its high level.  
• More than 170 cloud services are certified, including Azure, Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365 and Power Platform, as well as Microsoft Azure IA Studio and Microsoft Copilot for Security.  
• Granados emphasised that cloud security is a priority for moving critical applications.  

Sustainability:  

• Microsoft has committed to using 100% renewable energy by 2025 and to be carbon negative and water positive by 2030.  
• Data centres meet LEED Gold standards, with a PUE of 1.12, better than the average of 1.30-1.40. 
• Back-up generators will run on renewable biofuel and direct evaporative cooling will be used.  
• Microsoft has signed agreements with Repsol for energy from wind farms and solar plants in Spain, with a total installed capacity of 230MW by 2025.  

Economic impact:  

• In addition, this infrastructure is expected to generate €10.7 billion to national GDP and contribute to the creation of around 77,000 jobs between 2024 and 2030.  

Microsoft is working to boost AI training with numerous training initiatives through agreements with public administrations, educational institutions and companies.  

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