Government has created one central online data center to avoid duplication of information and wastage of resources by the different government departments in the country.
To be managed by the National Information Technology Authority (NITA-U), the national data centre will house all government ICT infrastructure and will host disaster recovery services for government applications and data.
Peter Kahiigi, the acting Executive director of NITA-U made the revelation about the centre as he hosted the Members of Parliament on the ICT committee.
“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, but they also eliminate duplication and wastage of resources arising from the implementation of parallel systems in Government,” said Kahiigi.
He urged the MPs to ensure that the data center and data recovery 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.
He said the data centre will also host the Government Cloud, MyUG Cloud. MyUG Cloud will enable ministries, departments, and agencies to 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.
The Members of Parliament commended the authority for work well done and pledged to support it in ensuring that Uganda’s cybersecurity meets the best international standards.
MP Annet Nyakecho, the chairperson ICT Parliamentary Committee, said the center would save some of resources that different government ministries, departments and agencies have been using to provide isolated data storage facilities.
She said her team will push for better facilitation to NITA-U to scale up its efforts in providing robust and secure data center and risk recovery facility in the country.
In the financial year 2012/13, 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.