Barcellos, MarinhoWanyonyi, Peter2025-07-172025-07-172024https://hdl.handle.net/10289/17503Small and isolated nations have been significant early adopters of Cloud Computing services, driven in part by the potential for cost savings and the convenience of not having to build their own Internet and computing infrastructure. This move into the Cloud has not been without challenges - indeed, while these services offer scalability, flexibility, and cost-efficiency, they also expose these nations to unique risks and vulnerabilities. Many of these nations are at significant distances from the Data Centres whose services they consume, introducing unavoidable transmission challenges as well as legal and geopolitical issues for these nations, given their lack of control or enforcement capability over the foreign-hosted data centres whose services they consume. As case studies, in this work we identify, measure and investigate some of the technical challenges posed by reliance on foreign Cloud Data Centres, and also analyse and discuss the non-technical challenges faced by nations that rely on such facilities. In those case studies, this work also explores how small and isolated nations can navigate these challenges, and recommends courses of action that provide actionable options for such nations. This dissertation also examines the disadvantages and risks associated with the reliance on nondomestic data centres by small, geographically or politically isolated nations where studies of such characteristics are possible, such as New Zealand and Taiwan.enAll items in Research Commons are provided for private study and research purposes and are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.Thesis