To continue supporting the UK Government with enterprise cloud services, Oracle announced a second-generation dual-region government cloud for use by public sector organizations. Oracle is the first cloud provider to deliver a dedicated, private dual-region cloud for use by the UK public sector and their authorized partners, offering a number of Oracle Cloud services, including Oracle Autonomous Database, Kubernetes, Oracle Cloud VMware Solution, and Oracle OCI services and Oracle Fusion Cloud applications. It will help foster the superior management and use of information for innovation, to better serve UK citizens.

The new dual-region government cloud expands on Oracle’s UK Government Cloud Region, which has been used for several years by organizations across the UK public sector, including the Home Office, NHS BSA, Lambeth Borough Council and Croydon Council. Oracle also announced its second commercial cloud region in the UK, Oracle UK West Cloud Region, in Newport, Wales.

Oracle’s dual-region government cloud, which consists of two separate sites in London and Newport, Wales connected by Oracle Cloud’s private high-speed network backbone, will not only allow public sector organizations to deploy cloud services in multiple independent regions for disaster recovery, but it will also offer the hosting and storage of all transactional data in the region.

Designed in collaboration with multiple UK Government and Defence ministries, Oracle’s dual-region adheres to the security principles outlined by the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC), and is built upon the parameters necessary to store OFFICIAL SENSITIVE data. Transactional data is always stored on UK soil and, unless otherwise agreed, the Oracle personnel accessing such data are UK citizens that are SC Cleared. The public sector will now be better enabled to deliver more robust services to UK citizens by running their most critical applications securely.

Minister for Investment, Lord Gerry Grimstone said: “Building world-class digital infrastructure is central to the government’s wider digital strategy. To help achieve this it’s key for public sector organizations to have access to services which allow them to operate efficiently, securely and cost effectively. The announcement marks a significant milestone in providing this to the entirety of the public sector—a step I very much welcome.”

“We’ve had a Government Cloud Region in the UK for several years, but the announcement really unlocks a completely new potential for all of our customers across the UK to take advantage of Oracle’s second-generation Cloud,” said Richard Petley, senior vice president, Oracle UK and Ireland. “This is a completely unique offering to the UK government—no other cloud provider offers the sovereignty and performance we are announcing today. We’ll be working with all aspects of government—both local and central—to help them understand how they make use of the cloud to deliver better services and value to the UK taxpayer.”

Today also marks Oracle’s first physical footprint in Wales, allowing it to tap into the talent and innovation being driven along the whole M4 corridor.

Deputy Minister for Economy and Transport, Lee Waters said: “Wales is a key part of the UK’s digital infrastructure, leading the way in innovation and cyber security, and the perfect place for Oracle to make use of the wealth of expertise and resources we have here. This project will provide a massive boost to the UK’s public sector, ensuring data is held securely and improving the services provided to the public.”

Oracle’s Second-Generation Cloud

Oracle’s modern, second-generation cloud is built and optimized specifically to help enterprises run their most demanding workloads securely. With unique architecture and capabilities, Oracle Cloud delivers unmatched security, performance, and cost savings. Oracle’s second-generation Cloud is the only one built to run autonomous services, including Oracle Autonomous Linux and Oracle Autonomous Database, the industry’s first and only self-driving database. Oracle Cloud offers a comprehensive cloud computing portfolio, from application development and business analytics to data management, integration, security, data science, and blockchain.

Oracle recently introduced Oracle Cloud Free Tier, Always Free services for anyone to try the world’s first self-driving database and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure for an unlimited time. Now, organizations large and small, developers, students, and educators can build, learn, and explore the full functionality of Oracle Autonomous Database and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, including Compute VMs, Block and Object Storage, and Load Balancer—all of the essentials for developers to build complete applications on Oracle Cloud.

Oracle opened 11 Cloud Regions in 2020 and currently operates 28 regions globally – 21 commercial and seven government and multiple dedicated regions for U.S. intelligence services – the fastest expansion by any major cloud provider. To help customers build true business continuity and disaster protection while meeting in-country data residence requirements, Oracle plans to establish at least two regions in almost every country where it operates. The U.S., Canada, E.U., U.K., South Korea, Japan, India and Australia already have two Cloud Regions. Upcoming Cloud Regions include second regions, Brazil, U.A.E., and Saudi Arabia, additional E.U. regions in Italy, Sweden, and France; as well as new regions in Chile, Singapore, South Africa, and Israel.

Currently available Oracle Cloud regions include:

Asia Pacific: Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul, Chuncheon, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Sydney, Melbourne
Americas: San Jose, Phoenix, Ashburn, Toronto, Montreal, São Paolo
Europe: Frankfurt, London, Zürich, Amsterdam, Wales
Middle East: Jeddah, Dubai
Government: two general U.S. Government regions, and U.S. National Security regions, three U.S. Department of Defense specific Government regions, two in the United Kingdom

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About Oracle

The Oracle Cloud offers a complete suite of integrated applications for Sales, Service, Marketing, Human Resources, Finance, Supply Chain, and Manufacturing, plus Highly Automated and Secure Oracle Cloud Infrastructure featuring the Oracle Autonomous Database. For more information about Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), please visit us at www.oracle.com.