The importance of data and information security in organizations cannot be overstated. It is critical that organisations – both public and private take the needed steps to protect their priority information from data breaches, unauthorized access, and other disruptive data security threats to business and consumers.
Organisations need to be confident that they have strong data security and that they can protect against cyber-attacks and other unauthorized access and data breaches. Weak data security can lead to key information being lost or stolen, create a poor experience for customers that can lead to lost business, and reputational harm if a company does not implement sufficient protections over customer data and information security weaknesses are exploited by hackers.
Galaxy backbone
This among other things was the reason Galaxy Backbone (GBB) was established. Since its establishment in 2006, Galaxy Backbone has kept its responsibility to the agencies of the Federal Government of Nigeria and private ogarganisations which among others consists of providing shared services from its ICT Infrastructure that enhance and promote digital services in a smart, secure and sustainable manner.
The huge investments that have gone into this infrastructure have been beneficial to the public and private establishments and the experience of Galaxy Backbone in building, deploying and providing infrastructure as a service is a testimony to its ability to manage and continue in this onerous task.
Solid Infrastructure
Similarly, in 2020, the vision driven by the Honourable Minister to get Nigeria to become a fully digitalized economy by the year 2030 was put together in the document called the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (2020 – 2030) and was launched by the President. In this document, eight pillars were identified as key instruments to help drive Nigeria towards digital transformation. One of the pillars is Solid Infrastructure.
Leadership
Also, the Managing Director/CEO Professor Muhammad Abubakar’s leadership in Galaxy Backbone since he resumed in 2020 has led to a lot of progress and pivotal achievements. The organization is living its re-invigorated mission to provide state of the art digital infrastructure and services for a digital Nigeria. In doing this, it aligns with government priorities, underpinned by a commitment to data sovereignty. Security of government and private organisation’s data is strengthened. He has determination and passion to ensure that Galaxy Backbone plays its role in the nation as the Digital Infrastructure platform of choice for the government and other businesses.
Datacenters
Significantly, Galaxy Backbone owns and operates world class Datacenters in the country and it is open for partnership with government and private organisations in order to maximize its rich digital infrastructure and support the advancement of trade and industry in Nigeria.
Some of the infrastructures are the world class Tier III Datacentre and soon to be launched Tier IV Datacentre for Cloud and Disaster Recovery purposes.
The Tier IV Datacentre is indeed a welcome development. Coming at a time when so much data is being generated by government, corporate organisations and industries at an alarming rate, Galaxy Backbone is spot on in aligning with Nigeria’s aspiration of being an active player in global ditigization. The Tier IV Datacentre will in no small measure enhance and deepen Nigeria’s data management systems.
Inspecting the GBB Digital Services Infrastructure, the Pantami commended the agency for the step taken to design the centre in order to improve the total customer experience of its demanding clients that cut the public and private sectors. He declared that the new digital infrastructure will serve as a backup to the Uptime Institute Certified Tier III Data Centre in Abuja.
The new data centre infrastructure will provide secure and available data centre services across the nation and enhance online information required for seamless research and programming purposes. This is because the data centres, also known as supercomputers, have the capacity of storing enormous volumes of information.
More benefits
Particularly, the GBB Tier IV Datacentre storage has capacity of about2.2 petabytes. This translates to huge amounts of data that can be securely stored.
According to experts, GBB’s Datacentres are positioned to attract organisations looking at deepening their digital services at vastly reduced cost of technology infrastructure, improved efficiency and productivity. They could enhance business continuity through Cloud and Disaster Recovery services. The infrastructure has been specifically built to respond to the desire of its growing base of customers and stakeholders.
This Infrastructure, the first Tier IV Datacentre in the nation’s public sector and the only of its kind, built out of the nation’s commercial city, Lagos and situated in another commercial hub of the country, Kano, for disaster recovery, back-up and redundancy purposes will in no small measure enhance and deepen Nigeria’s Digital Economy drive towards becoming one of the most recognized digital economies of the world as envisioned by President Muhammadu Buhari and institutionally led by the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami.
Impact on SMEs, government
Likewise, the Tier IV data centre which is about to launch will greatly benefit Nigerian Small & Medium Size businesses, Enterprises and the government.
Galaxy Backbone Managing Director/CEO Professor Muhammad Abubakar spoke recently at an Expo and Exhibition themed “Ensuring Efficient Digital Infrastructure in Nigeria”, organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce.
He said “Galaxy Backbone like you know is the Digital Infrastructure and shared services platform for public and private organizations. We are playing an active role in the Digital Transformation journey of Nigeria being championed by the Honourable Minister of Communications & Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami.
We are proud of the investment and the work we have done and continue to do in ensuring that the backbone and network infrastructure that is powering Nigeria’s Digital Economy is secure, available and efficient.
“Our world class Tier III Datacentre and soon to be launched Tier IV Datacentre for Cloud and Disaster Recovery purposes is available for everyone and sometime later today, we will take a deep dive into its huge potential for Nigerian Small & Medium Size businesses, Enterprises and the government.”
The MD who was represented by Dauda Oyeleye, Group Head Business Development went further to say that the amount of data generated across public and private organisations and individuals alike, have created new opportunities and experiences which needs to be well documented and explored.
“In the last two years, the world and indeed our nation Nigeria has experienced extraordinary times. The Digital world was accelerated in 2020 during the pandemic, so today we have a lot of transactions going into billions of dollars beginning and ending across different digital platforms and in that way, a lot of data is being generated. This Data has to be securely stored somewhere and backed-up as well to ensure and prevent unforeseen circumstances. Organisations must continue to devise innovative ways to store and back up their data to ensure business continuity.” He stated.
Lesson from Covid-19
One big lesson organisations ought to have learnt from the last pandemic and how it has transformed our lives even up till today is the power of data-driven digital platforms that enabled people to connect with one another, build relationships, transact business and solve problems without any physical contact.
The trust and confidence placed on GBB at that time, gave it the opportunity to play a formidable role which yielded great achievements and continues to propel it to raise the bar in its provision of digital services across the country.
Government and private organisations are advised to take advantage of the huge infrastructures provided by GBB in order to enhance their operations. The Datacenters are game changer for everyone across sectors of Nigeria in education, health, digital media, SMEs, government, financial services. This is because they support and encourage consistency and sustainability in generation and protection of data that will aid in transforming lives, enhancing business opportunities and promoting economic prosperity.
