GigaCloud cloud operator has urgently expanded the technical capacity of its platform for business needs in Lviv during the war. We explain why it is important and how GigaCloud can save data and services of Ukrainian business.
GigaCloud service is one of the leaders in the Ukrainian cloud market. Millions of Ukrainians use the company’s cloud infrastructure services every day. Diia, Kernel, Prozorro, Naftogaz of Ukraine companies and others are among the customers. The company is also a partner in the project aimed at implementing the LeoCards electronic ticket.
In 2018, GigaCloud became a member of the Lviv IT Cluster and opened an office in western Ukraine. The company had three technical platforms – two data centres in Kyiv and one in Warsaw. Since then, the service has been rapidly developing, while demand among local businesses has been growing. To meet the needs of customers, the cloud operator built its own technical platform in the Lviv Data Centre last year.
Investment in the local data centre and its facilities should have been enough for several years. However, due to a possible Russian attack, GigaCloud has begun developing a Business Continuity Plan, a document that describes what to do under unforeseen circumstances. The company was considering the possibility that a full-scale war could break out.
“We were getting ready for force majeure and realised that we needed to further expand the platform in Lviv – to make Ukrainian businesses be able to move their services and data to a safe place and continue their activities in the event of the Russian invasion,” Vasyl Zabolotnyi, Head of GigaCloud’s Western Ukrainian Office, said.
We realised that in the event of a serious attack on Kyiv, we would need productive technical facilities
GigaCloud brought a batch of modern equipment to the Lviv Data Centre, set up a cloud cluster and a backup storage system. Over 300 TB of memory has been provided to store customer backups. And such capacity is not the limit. The operator plans to increase the disk space, since there is a demand for it.
The technical equipment of the Lviv GigaCloud [platform is very powerful: Intel Xeon Gold 6354 next-generation processors, which will be released only in mid-2021, as well as Lenovo new servers and modern storage systems. New processors provide more reliable and faster customer service. And cloud technologies allow businesses to operate wherever the Internet is available.
“Just a week before the war, we installed new equipment because we knew that in the event of a serious attack on Kyiv, we would need productive technical facilities,” Vasyl Zabolotnyi stated. “And the staffing of the data centre is still ongoing.”
“The new cluster is being assembled by GigaCloud employees who had arrived in Lviv shortly before the full-scale Russian invasion. They work seven days a week, in fact 24/7. After all, some GigaCloud employees joined the Armed Forces and Territorial Defence Forces of Ukraine, many people volunteered and deliver humanitarian goods, while others work at Kyiv data centres or have moved to other regions of Ukraine,” Vasyl Zabolotnyi explains.
While the customer still knows nothing, monitoring teams will be able to see something suspicious at an early stage
For all those who think about storing files in the cloud storage, the most important thing is the privacy and security of personal data. GigaCloud understands it very well, so they pay maximum attention to security issues.
“Our security is the physical inability of outsiders to access securely protected data centre equipment. We pay special attention to the confidentiality of stored information and its protection from external interference, which is built in at the program level. Nevertheless, we always remind customers to be vigilant when building interior architecture inside the cloud and when setting security nuances there.
We have monitoring teams that will always notice something suspicious at an early stage, even when the customer is unaware of it. For example, our engineers can capture abnormal traffic and its sources. We immediately report all these findings, and our experts recommend how to deal with them,” Vasyl Zabolotnyi stresses.
In addition to GigaCloud, the GIGAGROUP also includes GigaSafe – a cybersecurity agency. Experts are always ready to solve any problem: Advise, ensure the security of customer services, or provide any other cybersecurity services.
Data from servers won’t disappear, even if there is no Internet access in Ukraine
Another advantage of Lviv’s GigaCloud platform is technical independence from Kyiv, which is the centre of all cloud solutions and processes in Ukraine. Due to the full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine, businesses have begun to worry about the preservation of their own data, as well as the integrity and accessibility of their services in case the Internet is unavailable in the country.
That’s why special communication channels have been created for the Lviv Data Centre, which ensures the availability of services in case something happens to the main communication channel. This is an important advantage that resulted in entrepreneurs switching en masse to the clouds of the Lviv Data Centre. Over the last month, the services of 70 Ukrainian companies in various industries have switched to the cloud infrastructure based on the Lviv GigaCloud platform.
“In general, our area is somewhat dependant on Kyiv, where, in case certain access points are disrupted, the whole Internet connection can be cut off. That’s the reason why we have made the network component of the Lviv Data Centre independent of traditional access channels. Consequently, our traffic does not go through the capital, since we have our own independent hub. And in the event of any man-made disasters, we will still have the Internet, and nothing will happen to the data. Given the current situation in the country, it is very important,” Vasyl Zabolotnyi said.
Services and technical support round-the-clock
Such services offered by GigaCloud in the Lviv Data Centre are not provided by any cloud operator in western Ukraine. Public, private and hybrid clouds are being built here, i.e. when physical customer servers are also partially connected.
As for public clouds, there are two clusters in the data centre: S-Cloud 2.0 (cloud PaaS solution on the OpenStack platform) and E-Cloud (VMware platform for projects of any complexity). Moreover, GigaCloud experts can place data on European platforms. GigaCloud Data Centre Technical Support operates 24/7, and the Data Centre always has a team of engineers who can provide expert help and advise on how to improve performance and optimise enterprise resources.
“In Lviv, we have a highly qualified engineering team, so you do not need to go God knows where and look for experts. They are right here. This saves time and effort of the business, which is very important. Furthermore, we are not limited to one service chosen by the customer. Thanks to three hundred GigaCloud partners, our team is ready to address any issues. As well as those that are not directly related to cloud solutions. You need just to voice your problem. To be honest, now it is quite difficult for us to keep up with this work pace due to the fact that part of the team joined the Armed Forces and the Territorial Defence Forces of Ukraine, but we are trying to quickly find solutions, methods and resources,” Vasyl Zabolotnyi said.
We would like to add that GigaCloud cloud operator is part of GIGAGROUP (group of companies), which provides comprehensive services for reliable data storage, transmission and backup. The group also includes the GigaCenter Commercial Data Centre, the GigaTrans business telecom provider and the GigaSafe cybersecurity agency.