Local Infrastructure Has Become a National Security Issue

Recently, there has been increasing talk about digital sovereignty. The European Union is under scrutiny due to its dependence on foreign technology companies, primarily American and Chinese, which raises questions about its security, regulatory compliance, and long-term economic resilience. Global cloud platforms and technology ecosystems outside the EU diminish the ability of member states, institutions, and companies to maintain control over their data, digital infrastructure, and technological capabilities. This poses a danger to European states, which must therefore strengthen and monitor their digital infrastructure, primarily data centers, cloud platforms (cloud), networks, and data processing systems.

Where data is located, who manages it, and under what legal regime it is processed becomes extremely important for the digital sovereignty of states and the modern digital economy. In this area, telecommunications operators play an increasingly significant role as they enable connectivity, storage, and data processing through their infrastructure.

Advanced Solutions

However, digital sovereignty does not mean isolation from global technologies. By developing domestic infrastructure, cloud platforms, and security solutions, A1 Hrvatska enables business users to have a modern, secure, adaptable, and scalable digital infrastructure within Croatian and European legislation. Digital sovereignty is built through the development of reliable digital infrastructure based on local infrastructure and data centers, cloud platforms, and personalized services for business users, as well as secure data management and information and communication technology services.

Thus, the A1 data center is one of the most technologically advanced facilities of its kind in the region and a key infrastructural component of digital sovereignty. It holds a Tier III Facility certificate from the Uptime Institute, which confirms a high level of system availability and resilience. The infrastructure includes redundant power and cooling systems, multi-layered physical security, and continuous monitoring and technical support, allowing organizations to keep critical data and digital systems within Croatia and the European regulatory framework with a high level of security and availability.

For business users of all sizes, the A1 data center and the A1 Cloud service as a platform enable the use of digital infrastructure as a service. With A1 Cloud, organizations can quickly establish virtual IT environments and manage infrastructure adaptively. This facilitates the development of digital products, modernization of IT systems, and adaptation of business operations to changes.

– The platform enables the development, testing, and production of systems and business-critical applications. An advantage is also the ability to build hybrid IT architectures where organizations can combine local infrastructure and cloud capacities. In this way, sensitive and regulatory-demanding data remain stored and processed within the infrastructure under local and European jurisdiction, while maintaining the flexibility and scalability of cloud technology. Business users can thus manage their own data more independently, monitor digital infrastructure more closely, and develop digital solutions more quickly. Additionally, local infrastructure allows for lower latency and more stable performance – A1 Hrvatska states.

The Importance of Infrastructure

A1 has further strengthened security by collaborating with the DC North data center, ensuring dual-location data storage and advanced solutions for backups and rapid system recovery. Such development of regional cloud infrastructure and data infrastructure is crucial for activities where security, latency, and regulatory compliance are key.

– For instance, the startup community utilizes cloud infrastructure for rapid development and scaling of digital products without significant initial investments. The public sector requires infrastructure that allows for data storage and processing in accordance with local and European regulatory standards. The video game industry, for example, needs low-latency and highly scalable infrastructure for developing and managing digital platforms. Software development and DevOps rely on flexible development and testing environments that enable rapid iteration and automation, while healthcare requires secure processing of sensitive data and high system availability. Digital sovereignty certainly provides the greatest assistance to these sectors in their operations – emphasized A1 Hrvatska.