In Uganda, cloud technologies are rapidly gaining acceptability as businesses and enterprises strive to adapt to remote data storage solutions, eliminating the need to invest in and maintain their physical infrastructure. With the pressure to stay abreast of emerging technologies, businesses are more than ever leveraging the power of cloud computing services to gain a competitive edge through advanced technology and cost-effectiveness.
Recent statistics have indicated that more businesses are integrating a cloud-driven approach within their operations. According to Flexera’s 2024 State of the Cloud Report, 89% of companies use a multi-cloud approach, which shows widespread adoption of cloud solutions across various industries. Additionally, 80% of businesses have embraced a hybrid cloud strategy, combining public and private cloud environments. Furthermore, over 85% of organizations will have adopted a cloud-first principle, fully integrating cloud-native architectures and technologies into their operations by 2025, as projected by Gartner.
This underscores the landslide victory that cloud technologies will have over traditional physical servers, personal computers, and local networks in the foreseeable future as cloud adoption within the business sector continues to skyrocket.
Given the foregoing, tech giants such as Microsoft Corporation, Amazon Inc., and Google have gone ahead and diversified their services to include cutting-edge cloud technologies such as Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Google Cloud, respectively. Previously, Ugandan companies have had to procure these much-needed cloud services from distant cloud instances hosted out of the country as far as Mombasa, South Africa, Portugal, etc.
Liquid Intelligent Technologies’ recent launch of a local instance of Microsoft’s Azure Stack, the first of its kind in the country, is poised to resolve this distance problem for both the ICT and business sectors, bringing the flexibility and power of Microsoft’s cloud closer to users. The Azure Stack, being a mini version of Microsoft’s big cloud service (Azure) is a portfolio of products that extends Azure services and capabilities to any environment, from the data centre to edge locations and remote offices.
Businesses currently running or procuring Azure services in the distant cloud will have the pleasant option of migrating them into the locally run Liquid Azure Stack, which also enjoys the advantages of being hosted in Raxio Data Centre, a state-of-the-art Tier III certified carrier and cloud-neutral data centre, managed and operated to global standards. It is the first of its kind in Uganda, offering best-in-class colocation, cross-connect, fibre, and infrastructure services.
Cloud hosting on the Azure Stack will reduce expensive capital expenditure decisions on hardware and infrastructure, allowing businesses to scale resources according to workload demands without incurring significant delays or investments. Akin to this, hosting the stack in the data hall will eliminate the hassle of maintenance, providing a secure colocation environment with room to scale capacity requirements in a 24/7 secure and redundant hosting environment.
A local Azure Stack instance will also ensure data sovereignty compliance and security enabling businesses to meet regulatory and compliance requirements by storing and processing data within the country as mandated under the Data Protection and Privacy Act.
Businesses will also benefit from the robust cybersecurity features including updates provided by Microsoft, complemented by an extra buffer of physical security at Raxio Data spanning up to 7 layers of physical security.
By hosting on the local Azure Stack, businesses are guaranteed efficient and robust performance with Microsoft’s high uptime, latest hardware, and software. This will further be enhanced by Raxio’s carrier and cloud neutrality which lends to a strong IT Services ecosystem.
Additionally, Raxio Data Centre offers secure colocation spaces and hosting environments of up to 400 racks to hold all mission-critical IT infrastructure via a redundant environment and a concurrently maintainable design, offering 2N+1 design on power, cooling, connectivity, and space with no single points of failure, hence further boosting the consistency and performance of the Azure stack.
The launch of this edge Azure stack in Uganda is set to revolutionize how businesses approach their data storage and connectivity needs. It provides businesses with time-tested cloud hosting benefits, including enhanced compute scalability, reliability, and improved data sovereignty and latency. As a local solution, it will also introduce local payments and support for a global service giving businesses a competitive edge to thrive in an increasingly digital landscape worldwide.
These advantages will ultimately contribute to economic growth, business continuity, social development, and the digital transformation of the Ugandan economy.
Editor’s Note: This article was written and given to PC Tech Magazine to publish by Godfrey Sserwamukoko, General Manager of Raxio Data Centre
See also: Uganda becomes 5th African nation Liquid Intelligent Technologies deploys Microsoft Azure Stack
