Oracle is launching two new Government Cloud Regions in England and Wales to be used by the UK public sector.
The ‘dual’ regions in the UK are the 27th and 28th Oracle rollout globally and it plans on having a total of 36 Cloud Regions by mid-2021.
Oracle’s business strategy is to have two Cloud Regions in each country where it operates. The two UK Cloud Regions will be linked via Oracle's private network so it can balance disaster recovery among independent regions as well as meet data sovereignty requirements.
Two separate/linked clouds
According to Oracle, each Government Cloud Region was co-designed to meet specifications and requirements from the UK Government and the Ministry of Defence.
Oracle’s dual-region adheres to the security principles outlined by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). The NCSC is a government agency that provides advice and support for the public and private sectors in how to avoid cybersecurity threats. Sensitive data by law is stored in the UK unless otherwise agreed, and Oracle employees working at the data centers hosting the regions will need to have security clearance before handling UK data.
Oracle’s upcoming Cloud Region in Wales will be the company's first physical location in the UK outside of London. The company has also worked with the UK Government in the past with Cloud services offered to education, Local government, and healthcare branches in the public sector.
Richard Petley, senior VP of Oracle UK and Israel, said: “We’ve had a Government Cloud Region in the UK for several years, but today’s announcement unlocks a completely new potential for all of our customers across the UK to take advantage of Oracle’s second-generation Cloud."
Deputy Minister for Economy and Transport, Lee Waters, said: “Wales is a key part of the UK’s digital infrastructure, leading the way in innovation and cybersecurity, and the perfect place for Oracle to make use of the wealth of expertise and resources we have here. This project will provide a massive boost to the UK’s public sector, ensuring data is held securely and improving the services provided to the public.”
In September, Oracle signed up for installing similar Government Cloud Regions in the US to be operated by the US Intelligence Community and Department of Defense.
The company has a long history of working with government bodies and especially in the US.
Lately, it hasn’t had the best of luck in securing large government contracts such as with JEDI. However, Oracle is not above tangling with competitors legally, such as getting the DoD to slash a $950m AWS reseller contract to just $65m and trying to block the $10bn JEDI contract. In September, Oracle successfully forced the Library of Congress to drop a requirement that asked for AWS, Azure, or Google services.
