The Fragile Backbone of Digital Innovation: Rethinking Infrastructure Dependency

The foundation of the entire digital realm is made up of computing and storage resources, which are referred to as infrastructure. Despite their obvious basic nature, these resources form the heart of the global digital services and solutions. As a result of the increasing use of cloud services and resource leasing, the majority of architects and developers now base their solutions on infrastructure they do not own. Because it provides scalability, flexibility, and speed to market, this strategy has come to be associated with technological sophistication and innovation.

In reality, though, the vast majority of digital services, apps, and solutions rely on a small number of international infrastructure suppliers, which is a setback in the technological advancement race. In addition to centralizing power, this strong dependency poses a serious risk: the possible collapse or interruption of services in the event that any of these suppliers fail or undergo unexpected, adverse changes. This delicate ecosystem, which is controlled by a small number of companies, emphasizes how urgent it is that we reconsider our strategy and look into more sustainable options. This sets the stage for the vital topic of why localizing digital products infrastructure is essential to achieving true sustainability.

Why Localizing Digital Infrastructure is the Key for Achieving True  Sustainability ?

Sustainable economy, sustainable community, sustainable digital advancement, sustainable everything starts from the idea of owning and operating the entire lifecycle of products and services. In the digital space, the cost is high to achieve the ultimate level of sustainability. Owning the infrastructure to host applications and digital services is a challenge that faces most stakeholders. Hence, there is another level of "watered-down" sustainable infrastructure, which is through national data centers and local private mini data centers. Here we need to pay attention that it is not the same as utilizing the world's top service providers' regional data centers, as it remains under centralized control. When the availability of many local -smaller- infrastructure services providers increases, we will see a drop in the cost of storage and computational resources. Following such a diagram globally will create a less fragile digital ecosystem and prompt gaining back the power on data and information, which will contribute to advancing the cybersecurity scene and, in some cases, fair AI growth.