The National Information Technology Authority Uganda (NITA-U) on Tuesday hosted the Parliamentary Committee on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) on a tour of the Government of Uganda Primary National Data Center.
The first of its kind in the country, the Tier 3 Data Center is one of the key initiatives under the Government of Uganda’s strategy for the provision of a centralized Data Centre with hosting and Disaster Recovery Services for Government Applications & Data.
With a rack space potential of 2000 racks, the biggest in Uganda, the Primary National Data Centre will house all Government ICT infrastructure thereby saving tax payer’s money with the centralized hosting consequently avoiding duplication and wastage of resources.
The National Data Centre will also host the Government Cloud, MyUG Cloud. MyUG Cloud will enable MDAs focus their resources on service based delivery rather than asset based delivery. MyUG Cloud has been established to support the following service delivery models; Infrastructure as a Service, Software as a Service, Backup as a Service, and Platform as a Service.
Speaking during the tour, Peter Kahiigi, the acting Executive director of NITA-U said “This upgrade in design and capacity meets current and future demands because it is scalable. These data centers not only enhance service provision and data security, they also eliminate duplication and wastage of resources arising from implementation of parallel systems in Government.”
He requested the Parliamentary Committee on ICT to ensure that the Data Center (DC) and Data Recovery (DR) services are fully utilized by supporting the drive to ensuring all Government services are hosted at the DC and DR to ensure confidentiality, integrity and availability of Government systems.
Leading the delegation, Hon. Nyakecho Annet, Chairperson ICT Parliamentary, applauded NITA-Us Efforts. “It is impressive to see such a facility put in place to secure government data storage. We look forward to the launch of the new Government Data Centre and the provision of onward delivery of eServices that will benefit the citizens of Uganda.”
In the FY2012/13, Cabinet of Uganda approved the Strategy for Rationalization of Information Technology Service across Government entities. The purpose of the strategy is to eliminate duplication and wastage of resources. A total of 34 entities and 36 E-Government Applications are currently hosted at the National DC and DRS.
