Nepal is running on an ambitious digital transformation journey and various data centers and cloud services are crucial and critical but are often overlooked elements. These elements are crucial for forming the bedrock of a scalable digital ecosystem, contributing significantly to its success. Cloud computing has emerged as a central technology with the potential to revolutionize public sector operations in Nepal in this era of digital transformation.

Understanding Cloud Computing

Cloud computing involves accessing and utilizing IT resources and services remotely over the internet as needed, with payment based on usage. Instead of investing in physical data centers and servers to store the data, you can access technology services, such as computing power, storage, and databases as per your requirement from a cloud provider. Major cloud service models are:

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): Users can rent virtual computing infrastructure like servers and storage.
Platform as a Service (PaaS): Users can rent a platform to develop, deploy, and manage applications.
Software as a Service (SaaS): Users can rent access to software applications over the Internet.

Role of Cloud Computing in Public Service Delivery

As the demand for public services evolve, agencies are shifting towards cloud solutions to increase the optimization process, to increment efficiency, and to enhance the citizen experience. Cloud computing offers a range of services that are crucial for Nepal’s public service delivery and digital aspirations such as:

Cost Efficiency: Cloud computing works on the pay-as-you-go model that offers cost-efficient solutions for resource allocation. In an environment that has a budget-concise public sector, agencies can optimize the cost and allocate resources based on the actual usage.
Scalability to Meet Demand: Cloud computing offers the ability to scale up and down the resources based on demand. Public sector organizations can easily adapt to the changing workloads along with ensuring that the service remains equally responsive during the periods while avoiding unnecessary expenses during lulls.
Mobility and Access: Government employees can get the privilege of running the applications from their homes, and offices and have access to data remotely, enabling a more diverse and distributed workforce.
Security and Compliance: Cloud providers apply stringent security measures and adhere to international compliance standards. This is important to handle sensitive citizen data, ensuring robust protection against cyber threats and regulatory compliance.
Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity: Cloud computing provides built-in recovery solutions for disasters by safeguarding critical data and ensuring business continuity in a geographically diverse and seismically active regions like Nepal. For the public sector who are assigned to deliver uninterrupted services to citizens, this might be the crucial service.

Government Cloud Initiative in Nepal

Government Cloud was launched in the fiscal year 2071/72 with the approval of the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Science and Technology. This shared infrastructure includes both hardware and software to operate the information technology systems developed by the government.

The cost of human resource management and infrastructure was increasing while the government agencies were using their own infrastructures to operate their system so the concept of creating a shared infrastructure of the Government Cloud was introduced to minimize the cost. All the required resources like CPU, RAM, Storage, and Public IP are provided to the government agencies to host and run websites and web applications, backup sensitive data, and operate information technology-related systems.

Purpose:

Partnership Utilization
Infrastructure Sharing
Cost Minimization
Cloud Adoption
Immediate Resource Provision

IT Infrastructure in Nepal: Cloud Service Provider & Data Centers

The majority of data centers (DCS) in Nepal provide cloud services, network support, collocation, and managed services. However, there is almost no service provider that gives the full cloud service at a professional level with a service level agreement. Below is the list of the data centers and cloud service providers in Nepal:

GIDC (Government Integrated Data Center)
Data Hub Pvt. Ltd
Cloud Himalaya
Syntegrate
Umrao Data Center (U Cloud)
CAS infra
Access World (AWT) Cloud Service
Data Space Pvt Ltd
NTC Data Center
Ncell Data Center

Adoption of Cloud Computing in Nepal

As of right now, cloud usage in the IT sector is growing, and Nepal stands to benefit greatly from this in the years to come. In the 2010 Nepal Trade Integration Strategy (NTIS), the government of Nepal designated business process outsourcing (BPO) and information technology (IT) as one of the five potential export service industries of the highest priority. In the upcoming years, it is predicted to be one of the major drivers of economic growth in Nepal, with the potential to produce strong growth, substantial investment, and profitability.

Conclusion

The dependency of cloud computing on internet connectivity has been a challenge for Nepal. However, the situation is improving. Given the rapid evolution of new technologies and wireless internet connectivity in Nepal may ultimately prove advantageous over fixed-line internet access. When Nepal has reliable internet connectivity, cloud computing there will advance in line with global trends.