DMP South Africa, the local branch of European data management company Data ManagementProfessionals (DMP), is opening a data centre in SA.
The Netherlands-based company, which opened shop in SA in January, will officially launch its data centre facility on 31 March.
In an interview with ITWeb yesterday, Iniel Dreyer, MD of DMP SA, said the local data centre will be the company's fifth after it rolled out four similar facilities in Europe.
Established 12 years ago, the firm specialises in secure data management products and services such as storage, backup and archiving solutions to cross-sector organisations.
Stable power supply
The opening of this data centre comes at a time when SA is witnessing a flurry of activity in the data centre space.
Earlier this month, software giant Microsoft announced the opening of two data centre regions in SA, one in Johannesburg and another in Cape Town.
Microsoft's rival Amazon Web Services is also looking to open data centres in SA next year, while Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei started offering its Huawei Cloud commercial services in SA this month.
The DMP SA data centre utilises Teraco infrastructure as a hosting facility to ensure full power redundancy is in place so there will be no issues around service availability, the company says.
It points out this is particularly relevant given SA's current challenges due to unreliable electricity supply caused by load-shedding.
According to DMP SA, Teraco infrastructure ensures data availability through a stable power supply environment, ensuring fast recovery in case of data corruption due to continuous electricity outages.
"The data centre provides data management-as-a-service offerings (DMaaS) that includes backup-as-a-service, archive-as-a-service and, very importantly, disaster recovery-as-a-service. It will allow for hybrid data management offerings across all industries and market segments," said Dreyer.
The company says the backing and support DMP provides ensures the data centre deployment is in line with global best practices and relevant ISO standards.
"Providing data management services through an overseas data centre is challenging due to the bandwidth required as well as latency when it comes to accessing data," says Dreyer.
"However, the biggest issue is the lack of a localised offering and personalised service. Data management is not 'one size fits all', and our new data centre will empower us to provide bespoke designs and architecture for our customers.
"We will also be able to offer a more consultative approach that will enable us to implement specific solutions, including storage, archiving, backup and disaster recovery, tailored to the needs of our South African customers. The key for us lies in building trust and enhancing relationships with our customers."
Data recovery
In a statement, the company says solutions such as DMaaS require quick access to data, as well as access to the actual infrastructure in case of a large-scale data loss event that requires significant volumes of data to be recovered.
In such instances, it notes, a localised offering means data can be physically accessed and sent via courier to customers, saving both time and bandwidth.
It adds that data sovereignty is a key factor, and for legislated industries such as financial services, this local data centre opens up the possibility to leverage DMaaS.
DMP says to ensure data is secure, all data is encrypted at rest (while it is being stored) and in transit (when it is being migrated or moved) with industry-standard encryption protocols.
It points out that vulnerability testing is conducted frequently to ensure security is up to standard. Organisations can choose different architectures, from multi-tenant platforms to customised dedicated platforms, ensuring flexibility and business suitability. Various options are available to develop a solution based on individual customer needs.
"One of the failings of international offerings around data management is a lack of understanding of the unique nature of the African market," says Dreyer.
"As a South African organisation, we understand the culture and the economy, as well as the challenges in the market, and we can tailor our data management offerings to suit. We look forward to giving customers the benefit of a bespoke local offering backed by international support, standards and best practices," he concludes.
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