Google bags sovereign cloud deal with IOH

Under the agreement, IOH will offer Google Distributed Cloud (GDC) to organisations that want to run AI and data-intensive workloads, but need to be careful about where all that processing takes place.

So, depending on the client's requirements, GDC can be hosted at the edge with a connection back to Google's Indonesia cloud region. If that's not sovereign enough, IOH also plans to host it on its own data centres, and offer on-premises solutions. If that's still not up to snuff, GDC can even be run on air-gapped infrastructure that is fully disconnected from the public Internet.

It all complies with Indonesia's data sovereignty regulations, and therefore lends itself well to industries that need complete control over, and protection of, their data. Sectors like energy and utilities, healthcare and life sciences, defence, financial services, manufacturing and the public sector.

This being 2024, the announcement comes with a liberal sprinkling of AI. IOH, which is already working with Google on AI, is keen to point out that GDC customers will have access to all the core features of Google's enterprise AI platform, Vertex, enabling them to develop and deploy AI and machine learning (AI/ML), and generative AI (GenAI) search applications, speeding up tasks like data retrieval and analysis.

It also opens the door to pre-trained ML models for speech-to-text, translation, and optical character recognition (OCR) solutions, all with local-language support.

For customers that require an air-gapped GDC solution, they can avail themselves of the Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE); its AlloyDB Omni database management system; and Nvidia's Tensor Core GPUs.

"Our partnership with Indosat Group will introduce next-generation, local sovereign cloud and edge cloud solutions to empower public sector and regulated organisations to accelerate digital transformation on their own terms," said Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian. "Our leading AI services and secure-by-design distributed cloud infrastructure, combined with Indosat's technology expertise, will help businesses better analyse data, uncover insights, boost productivity, and run modern AI applications."

According to forecasts from Kearney, AI could add up to $366 billion to Indonesia's GDP by 2030. That seems eminently possible given the government has made digital transformation a top priority for stimulating economic growth.

The Ministry of Finance reckons that digital transformation could add a whopping $2.8 trillion to the economy by 2040, contributing to the government's over-arching plan to realise its 'Golden Indonesia 2045 Vision'. That's the year when modern Indonesia celebrates its centennial, and by then the government wants the country to be what it calls sovereign, advanced, fair and prosperous.

"Indonesia is paving the way towards its golden era in 2045. Indosat Group is committed to contributing through technological advancements in pursuit of this vision," said IOH chief executive Vikram Sinha. "The partnership with Google Cloud is driven by empowering Indonesia, aiming to deliver the country's first sovereign cloud and edge cloud solutions. These solutions will equip organisations with the state-of-the-art infrastructure, operational features, and developer tools they need to accelerate digitalisation at scale."

Indeed, given the scale of the government's ambitions, it is easy to see why IOH sees an opportunity to play a central role in the country's digital transformation.