Communications minister kicks off The Future of Data Centres conference

Minister of Communications and Information Technology Yasser El- Kady opened Tuesday the first session of the second round of The Future of Data Centres conference in Egypt, in the attendance of several experts in the sector. During the opening session, MCS Managing Director Amr Farouk said that data centres are a base for digital transformation and financial inclusion, which the state aims to implement. He added that Egypt’s location on the world map and its abundant resources, as long as the economic reforms underway continue, will all help to stimulate the promising industry in the coming period. The Future of Data Centres conference is sponsored by several major companies, including Telecom Egypt, Dell, VMware, Juniper Networks, Trend Micro, Red Hat Software, and Schneider Electric. President Abdel Fattah Al- Sisi had met several days ago with Prime Minister Sherif Ismail and El- Kady to discuss plans for the development of telecommunications infrastructure in terms of 4G services, the development of cables, and covering remote and border areas, along with the establishment of technological parks, in the framework of working to transform Egypt into a hub for technology, industrialisation, innovation, and entrepreneurship. They also discussed the project to establish integrated databases to establish an information and technological environment capable of absorbing the nation’s data in order to achieve integration between various state bodies. The minister of communications presented the status of this project, stressing that it aims to build a modern and advanced service platform that serves the governmental sector and individuals. He noted that the project would help with decision- making across all governmental sectors through audited data linked to the national IDs of citizens. The conference aims to shed light on two main aspects in its round this year, mainly the monitoring and keeping abreast of global and regional trends in intelligent management systems and services, as well as cloud computing and data management and analysis. The conference will review the innovative concepts of data processing and enhancing digital transformation for optimal use in the development of infrastructure and databases, in addition to examining local competitive advantages in terms of technical solutions and human competencies in keeping pace with global changes in the industry of giant data centres.