‘Storing data locally ensures compliance of regulations’
Eng Maqbool bin Salim al Wuhaibi, chief executive officer of Oman Data Park (ODP) - the first provider of cloud services in the sultanate - said that it is important to store data and information in the country so that they are under local regulations.
He said the whole process is safer for Omani companies and saves their money too.
“All critical national data is required to be stored within the borders of the sultanate according to the regulatory authorities. This means that management and maintaining data confidentiality is the primary responsibility of the Omani data collector,” Eng Wuhaibi said.
“If the data is stored locally, the customers can get better quality services as they can access them easily. This and other such guarantees are not available if data is stored abroad subject to different jurisdictions.”
Eng Wuhaibi said that ODP is the first and largest data centre in Oman, which has made the country a global player in data services.
“This became possible by its best technologies of cloud services. It has also helped in raising the standard of Special Economic Zone in Duqm to emerge as technologically most advanced zone in the sultanate. This is by establishing a level 3 data centre which provides all managed data centre services.
“ODP is the only data centre, which has a round-the-clock centre for security operations and networks working seven days a week. In addition to this, it has a specialised centre for cybersecurity managed by highly qualified Omani employees.”
He said that ODP is the first to introduce virtual data centre services with its brand Nebula in 2019. “We also provided the country world-famous Microsoft Azure Stack services which makes it possible to obtain world-class data centre solutions within the demographic boundaries of the sultanate. Before we started ODP, the companies in the sultanate had to manage their data requirements on their own which was a costly affair. They had to bear the costs of hardware and software as well having specialists.”