Call to store data critical to Oman within country

Muscat: Data critical to the country will be safe if stored in Oman, as it will be protected by the country’s regulations, the CEO of Oman Data Park (ODP) has said.
With ODP being among the first local providers of cloud storage services in the country, Maqbool bin Salim Al Wuhaibi said that maintaining and managing the confidential nature of critical data would be easier if it were stored on servers within the Sultanate.
“The actual importance of having data locally stored is that you have a guarantee that they are subject to local regulations. Therefore, storing data within the Sultanate is safer for Omani companies, and it also saves their money,” he explained. “If the data is stored locally, the customers can get better quality services as they can access them from within the Sultanate and thus, there is no latency.
“This and other such guarantees are not always available when data is stored outside the country, because it can be subject to different jurisdictions,” he added.
ODP was set up to provide quality data storage and protection services to public and private organisations in the country, through offering cloud services. One of the areas it hopes can benefit from the provision of such services is the Duqm Special Economic Zone, as so many international firms are setting up operations in the town.
Having this technology will make it easier and safer for companies to store data locally, in addition to helping them share it quickly with their other partners in Oman and abroad. ODP is the only data centre, which has a round-the-clock centre for security operations and networks working seven days a week. It also has a specialised cyber security centre managed by highly qualified Omani staff.
“Before we started our services at ODP, the companies in the Sultanate had to manage their data requirements by themselves, which was costly,” he explained. “They had to bear the costs of hardware and software, as well as those of maintaining specialised employees who needed constant training to keep up with changing technologies. By using ODP services, firms can save on these huge costs. They can use our infrastructure and the vast experience we have accumulated over the last eight years and benefit from it. Moreover, our services attract regional and international clients.
“So far, it has served more than 500 local and international institutions from the public and private sectors with a high level of professionalism,” he added. “We also have a professional team for sales services, pre-sale services and professional customised training under a service level agreement to ensure optimal support for these clients.
“Our ambition is to be known for digital empowerment in the Sultanate so that the government and commercial institutions can use our help as an external source, to meet the challenges of information technology,” added the CEO. “This is so that these institutions can focus on their core business and allow us to solve the technological challenges they face.”