INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Data Centres
Summit launched to boost
African digital economy
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BroadGroup’s
inaugural Datacloud
Africa Leadership
Summit took place
in Morocco
B
roadGroup’s inaugural Datacloud
Africa Leadership Summit took place
in Morocco to debate the future of IT
infrastructure across the region.
“We are thrilled to be contributing to the
growth of computing and networking on the
continent, building and operating hubs at
the heart of Africa’s digital economy,” said
Philip Low, Chairman of BroadGroup.
“The Summit took place at an important
moment in the evolution of the data centre
industry in Africa and we are delighted to
host the new Africa Data Centre Association
at the event as their goal is to keep Africa’s
data in Africa.
“Our last report revealed the long-term
potential of investment in Africa and even
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though more is still needed, developments in
renewable energy are certainly encouraging.
“Fibre infrastructure and networks are going
to be critical given the massive increase
in international bandwidth taking place,
as is enterprise outsourcing and increased
peering. We believe that a strong association
is key to sustaining development in the field.”
Association (ADCA), a non-profit, Pan-African
professional association which will foster
the development of the industry in Africa
and create a strong industry body on the
continent and internationally.
“All data centre companies can join our
association,” said Sonatel’s Fatoumata
Sarr Dieng.
As the digital economy is all about data,
Africa will need to develop its own data
center network to ensure data sovereignty,
bandwidth and latency time, and bring back
the IT Load across the continent. “As of now we have 28 members from
everywhere in Africa. Our new association
has three objectives. First, we want to put
together our assets in Africa to hold our data
in Africa.
The data centre industry is one of the pillars
of the African economic development
and recently, data centre industry
leaders launched the Africa Data Center “Our second objective is to reduce the
problem of latency time and connectivity we
have in Africa. Lastly, we want to become a
major actor in the new digital economy.” n
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