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9/8/25, 10:47 AM Inside UAE’s Shift to Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure – Future Tech Magazine
By 2028, the global cloud market is poised to reach a value of USD 1.266 trillion, a significant increase compared
to USD 626.46 billion in 2023.

Organizations in the Middle East are increasingly finding innovative ways to harness cloud technology to support
their growth and digital strategies. Research has shown that around 90 per cent of companies in the region have

moved beyond the ‘lift and shift’ strategy – where existing applications are simply transferred to the cloud – and
are now focusing on modernizing their applications and creating new cloud-native solutions.

For Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and IT leaders, this marks a turning point. For the first time, they have a
genuine choice – the ability to align infrastructure decisions not just with technical requirements, but also with

strategic priorities like data sovereignty, compliance, commercial offers, and service needs. Hybrid cloud, once
viewed as a hypothetical, future-state aspiration, has become a practical and increasingly popular model.

Key Drivers of This Shift
One of the major drivers of hybrid cloud adoption in the region is cost efficiency. The economics of traditional data
centers are becoming less viable. Between hardware investment, cooling, staffing, and security, the costs are
stacking up, especially as businesses scale. The second factor is speed to market. In a post-COVID world, speed

to market is no longer a competitive advantage but a necessity. Organizations need to launch, iterate, and scale
digital services without the bottlenecks of traditional IT infrastructure.

Security and compliance are also among the factors shaping cloud strategies. Industries handling sensitive or
classified data must operate within strict guidelines. Public cloud adoption for these sectors is not always

straightforward, which is where sovereign clouds play a critical role. Lastly, flexibility is another important factor.
Enterprises aim to avoid being ‘locked in’ to a single vendor or architecture. They are looking for architectures
that support freedom of movement, shifting workloads across platforms based on changing business needs.

The Hybrid Advantage
The hybrid cloud delivers a unique value proposition by balancing performance, cost, compliance, and agility.
Unlike pure public or private models, a hybrid cloud gives organizations the freedom to optimize infrastructure

without being constrained by a one-size-fits-all approach. It also allows businesses to reduce their dependency
on any single provider. This model supports long-term resilience and strategic autonomy, enabling smarter
decisions as demands shift.

An open hybrid cloud approach takes this one step further, allowing for seamless movement of applications and
data across environments. This is not just about convenience; it’s about building a resilient foundation that can

adapt to the future.

Rise of Sovereign Cloud and Open Innovation
Over the next 12 to 24 months, we can expect both enterprise and public sector adoption of hybrid cloud to
accelerate. Sovereign platforms will be a key enabler in this growth. There is already a strong interest from
ministries and municipalities in the UAE, aiming to reap the benefits of the cloud without compromising on
national data sovereignty.

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