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Information PS Bitange Ndemo/ FILE

Kenya

Govt to put up new data centre

Information PS Bitange Ndemo/ FILE

NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 13 – The government is mulling putting up an upgraded National Data Center (NDC) to boost its internal efficiencies and compliment the current centre which is already operating at full capacity.

Information Permanent Secretary Bitange Ndemo said the government is seeking input from the private sector for the country’s second data centre that will expand the current capacity of 30 terabytes.

“To do a good Level 4 National Data Center it’s anything between $200 million and $250 million. We are looking at another one year before we can see a virtual environment,” he said.

The NDC is part of the government’s strategy to centralise the management of data from ministries and government agencies to cut operational costs, through the launch of three data centres.

Efforts to digitise various ministries have made headway although hitches at the Lands Ministry have slowed the process.

The PS said it will take almost $1 billion to fully digitise the ministry, but funding has been difficult to come by.

“If Lands (Ministry) were willing that we do their data, their revenue would move from Sh7 billion to almost Sh40 billion. When we went there, there were files all over, then we created the banking hall and revenue jumped to Sh7 billion from Sh3 billion,” he said.

Making the move to e-procurement, Ndemo added, would save the government $1 billion annually.

The PS was speaking during an event hosted by storage and data management solutions company NetApp that explored opportunities for storage and data management in Kenya’s IT industry.

NetApp is making an aggressive attempt to solidify its lead position as a storage and data management provider in the region, looking at setting up an office in another four to five months to complement its reseller network.

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“Our model going forward is indirect. We started off with people coming in from other countries to support the East Africa region, but now we have local partners. The people that are delivering the solutions for NetApp are locally based,” NetApp Channel Lead Prem Pather said.

In efforts to improve end-user support and service delivery NetApp partnered with Business Connexion to distribute NetApp products in the country.

Moving forward Pather said the company is looking to expand its offerings to the government as it continues to digitize ministry records and other solutions.

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