NxtGen’s Sovereign Cloud Empowers India’s Government Agencies to Protect Critical Data and Unlock its Potential

NxtGen Datacenter and Cloud Technologies enable enterprises to implement a private cloud on-premises and then utilize a wide range of data-center services to create a hybrid environment that matches each workload with the right cloud. As a result, it’s a solution that is relied on by companies of all kinds in numerous industries.

It’s also an offering that ideally prepared the company to deploy its NxtGen Sovereign Cloud, a service that provides government agencies in India, their partners, and companies in highly regulated industries with a turnkey cloud solution that complies with India’s most demanding data sovereignty and data security requirements.

We recently spoke with A S Rajgopal, CEO and MD, NxtGen Datacenter and Cloud Technologies to learn more about NxtGen Sovereign Cloud. We also took the opportunity to explore how the needs of India’s government agencies both differ from and reflect the needs of the companies that rely on NxtGen’s extensive portfolio of cloud solutions and services.

A S Rajgopal, CEO and MD, NxtGen Datacenter and Cloud Technologies said, “We serve a diverse cross-section of enterprises that do business in India, so the cloud solutions and services we offer are quite extensive. These include cloud Infrastructure-as-a-Service, Backup-as-a-Service, Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service, Data Protection-as-a-Service, and a wide range of managed services that encompass our extensive analytics, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things capabilities.

He further continued, “Because so many of our solutions are bespoke, even our standard offerings are highly refined. We differentiate ourselves in our passion for innovating, co-create solutions with our customers, and integrating multiple technologies to provide fruitful outcomes that our customers will receive.  NxtGen Sovereign Cloud is no exception”.

Inside the NxtGen Sovereign Cloud

NxtGen Sovereign Cloud is purpose-built for government agencies that store their internal data and information on citizens used to deliver services. Completely isolated from other cloud platforms, it is designed to comply with the requirements mandated by India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Computer Emergency Response Team (or CERT, the agency within the ministry that oversees cyber security). 

Notably, it includes enhanced security measures such as network segmentation, physical security controls, managed detection, and a wide range of response services. In addition, NxtGen Sovereign Cloud also incorporates extensive data protection and availability services. 

Network access is tightly restricted and regulated by many physical security controls, security clearances, firewalls, and other barriers. However, all are offered as a service that doesn’t burden customers with the management tasks associated with ownership and upkeep. Significantly, data is protected by military-grade encryption while at rest and in transit. Workloads are also isolated and hosted on dedicated clusters and segregated at the computing, network, and storage layer to ensure the sovereignty of customers’ data.

“NxtGen Sovereign Cloud keeps all customer data, metadata, and escalation data on India’s sovereign soil at all times in an ironclad environment,” adds Rajgopal.

He also said, “That is in stark contrast to many providers, which even if they keep data in-country, cannot ensure that metadata is kept there or that service-related tasks do not occur across borders. That’s one of the many reasons that it’s crucially important for our government agencies in India to have a partner like NxtGen that offers a truly sovereign cloud”.

Rajgopal notes, though, that it’s about far more than protecting the data of agencies and citizens, although that, of course, is paramount. 

“Our government customers want to know that our cloud will enable them to address growing and rapidly changing data privacy laws,” he says. “But they also want to innovate with their data. They want access to modern technologies, including microservices and distributed analytics capabilities, and they want to use the innovative and trusted technologies that VMware is known for. That is why the VMware Sovereign Cloud distinction is so valuable. It lets organizations know that they can comply with the most demanding sovereignty rules while simultaneously innovating.”  

Learn more about NxtGen and its partnership with VMware here.