Eskom troubles a risk to SA’s data sovereignty
Research firm highlights load-shedding as a major risk to SA's data sovereignty. Microsoft, Amazon Web Services and Huawei are among big firms with plans to build data centres in SA
Research firm Fitch Solutions has warned that load-shedding is a major risk to data centre projects currently underway in SA and this could derail the country’s efforts to protect the sovereignty of its data. International technology firms Microsoft, Amazon Web Services and Huawei are among companies that have announced plans to build data centres in SA that will enable their clients to store content in the cloud. Andrew Kitson, head of telecoms media and technology macro research at Fitch Solutions, says data centres “are hugely reliant on access to reliable power supplies”. “Outages will result in interruptions to mission-critical operations, not just in the retrieval or storage of static files but also streams of data traffic that may be driving critical applications for infrastructure,” Kitson said, citing examples such as traffic light management, operation of surgical or manufacturing robots, security surveillance and money transfer. The reality of load-shedding has led some...
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