Dubai Smart Government (DSG) said it has partnered with top telecom operator Etisalat to launch the shared disaster recovery site (SDRS) for 28 government entities in Dubai.

The move is aimed at managing a secure government information security environment besides ensuring business continuity and contributing to the sustainable development of Dubai as the world’s smartest city.

Ahmad Bin Humaidan, the director general of Dubai Smart Government, said: “The launch of SDRS comes in implementation of the decision on Dubai Government’s information security, which is aimed at devising an integrated strategy that would lead to a unified policy for protecting the government’s information and information systems.”

"The rapid developments and the nature of the current stage, which depends on the provision of government services through smart devices for our citizens’ happiness, necessitate us to ensure that these services and our back-end government ICT services are safe, protected and backed-up with the aim of gaining our customers’ satisfaction and trust," added Bin Humaidan.

Humaidan said similar to the other shared services currently being provided by DSG to government entities, setting up an SDRS at the government level would contribute to creating a green economy and a sustainable green environment and ensuring continuity of work sustainability and security of government digital assets.

Etisalat CEO Saleh Al Abdouli said the agreement was a strong indication of the trust that Dubai Government had in the capacity of its data centres to store data as per the highest security degrees and recover data in case of disasters.

"Our investment and interest in data centres began many years ago as part of a clear strategy that stresses the importance of data for government and private sector and underlines the necessity for accessing it at any time. This strategy has led to several sophisticated centres to be set up all over the UAE as per the highest classifications in the field of storing and recovering data," he added.   

Matar Al Humairi, the director of Infrastructure Department at DSG, said: "Optimum investment in an advanced SDRS would minimize and rationalize government spending through reducing the high cost of setting up such centres in each government entity separately."

The launch of the SDRA comes in implementation of the recommendations made by DSG’s specialized teams following its preliminary technological study that covered 30 Dubai government entities, he added.-TradeArabia News Service