Cloud Computing in Kenya is still next to Impossible

Recently going through my blog archive I came across a post I had written last year about the cloud computing and the way to go for Kenyan coders and companies, coincidentally the same ?day my friend Miring’u Wainaina drew my attention to an article written by Andrew Limo in Daily Nation After computer, comes the power to communicate Then I realized that although we are talking about cloud computing, it?s deployment in Kenya is still next to impossible.

It is simple for efficient deployment of cloud computing, you need constant internet connection to access both your applications and documents.? If there is a problem with the internet connection then you can?t access anything including your own documents.? In Kenya there are still a number of issues to be addressed if we to have any possibility of cloud computing.

The electricity and Constant outages .

The constant blackouts can never help the advancement of cloud computing, Imagine you are based in Kisumu and trying to access? a server based in Nairobi and then there is blackout in Nairobi. That would mean you have to wait until cloud clears in back in Nairobi, before continuing. ?This is not confined to the local servers alone; using foreign based servers, mostly in US will also come with their own inconveniences.? ?The discussion now moves away from the availability of bandwidth to the energy and in particular the generation of electricity not only in Kenya but in Africa as a whole. According to Rebecca Wanjiku post? on Computerworld

While Nigeria has had a chronic power problem, South Africa’s power shortage or “load shedding” last year raised serious concerns as data centers, business processing outsourcing facilities and other technology installations suffered from hours of downtime.

This year, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania have had to introduce power rationing, with industrial areas losing power intermittently for a day or a few hours at a time and residential areas losing power for up to three days in a week. In Kenya, it is estimated that the power outages will have negative effects on economic growth and that lower bandwidth prices will not benefit the small companies based in residential areas

Recently the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) came out strongly supporting? Kenya to exploit nuclear power as a source of energy. ?Kenya might have other sources of energy but in order to industrialize faster there is need for nuclear energy,” Baradei said during a meeting with President Mwai Kibaki in Nairobi. The issue of nuclear power is discussed at great length by Jellyfish on his blog http://jellyfishcoolman.wordpress.com/2009/08/02/nuclear-power-for-kenya/

Then came the ?news of Kenya building? Africa biggest ?windfarm. ?A 300 megawatt windfarm, coined the Lake Turkana Wind Power Project, is expected? to have a total of 365 wind turbines? installed. ?On top of that project there is also a ??possibility that the private investors are considering establishing a second windfarm near Naivasha. But until all these mooted projects are completed and we have 27/7 stable power supply, cloud computing is out of reach.

Reliability

There is also issue of the reliability of the internet connection, at the moment most people will argue that with the coming of fiber optic cables? there is some surety of faster and reliable internet connection, provided the energy issue is sorted out, but there are signs that that might be premature conclusions. The recent internet blackout in West Africa caused by the damage to the SAT-3 which runs from Portugal and Spain to South Africa via West Africa.? Around 70% of Nigeria’s bandwidth was cut, causing severe problems for its banking sector, government and mobile phone networks. ?Then there was a big panic in blogosphere recently when it emerged rightly or wrongly that Seacom was down. Seacom later came out strongly to deny that there was something wrong with their operation. ?But at the end in this world of stupid pirates, sharks, and others, the undersea cables clearly have their own enemies.

Not secure

How far are companies ?willing to trust the most sensitive information of the company to a third party. How far is a bank willing to give the account details of its client to a data centre situated somewhere in Nigeria, where some thugs? send emails daily to people claiming that they don?t have bank accounts and can only get one through your help in order to share a fortune left to them with their General fathers.

The security of the data is a major issue when come to cloud computing.? The main concern here is, are there chances that other people have access to the data where it is stored in the cloud; how about if the data is loss would there be backup or that is the end of the road.

Even in the fastest internet the web based applications would be slow to access than the documents and local applications on the PC. The back and forth communication between the server? somewhere in the cloud and the work station basically makes the speed of communication to slow down.

Single Format makes it troublesome

The way cloud computing is structured currently makes it possible support only a single format. It is obvious that In most organization provides only one format and in some instances one applications. That leaves the companies to engage multiple clouds, a real nightmare to say the least.? For example you have the payroll processing done in Kampala, banking details processed in Nairobi and applications used in the office accessed from USA (Google, Microsoft, Amazon). Maintaining all these clouds is both cumbersome and sometime out rightly impossible.

Problem of portability

Having seen that companies might be forced to maintain multiple clouds, the portability of the data might not be so smooth as expected by the users. When users need the data in certain format while there is no uniform platform for all clouds, getting the data from one format to another could be a real headache.

Cost of Bandwidth:

The back and forth about the cost of bandwidth in Kenya is already annoying one month after the first undersea cable network went live. Some people thought I was off the mark when I wrote that Seacom is here but? don?t be surprised if nothing changes.? The prices have remained high with most ISPs still arguing that they have to recoup their investments.? The reality is the ISPs are behaving like a cartel ready to frustrate the consumers from enjoying the benefit of connecting to the fast internet.? To add the salt to the injury Seacom remains their greatest background shadowy benefactor, going to the extent of reinventing the meaning of being transparent. ??AccessKenya talk of doubling the bandwidth for its client and no mention of the prices or the cost, Safaricom prices remain stagnant where they were before Seacom arrival.? Orange introduced some price changes but that was just an adjustment to have pricing outlook which is similar to that of its arch rival Safaricom. Zain is struggling with identity crisis, behaving like a deer caught on the headlight.? KDN reduced its prices by 90% percent which is a very good news for consumers starved of positive information in the market, but still they outreach is very limited to a few corporate.

If you can?t estimate how much you will spend on buying the bandwidth I guess the cloud computing is mirage to think of in the first place.