INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Data Centres

The breaking of ground for Africa Data Centres ’ Johannesburg facilities is an integral part of the expansion , as South Africa is one of the most important data centre markets in Africa and a gateway for smaller neighbouring markets .

“ The expansion will happen in multiple phases ,” said Tesh Durvasula , CEO of Africa Data Centres . “ The construction of the first phase is starting today and will deliver 20MW across eight data halls by 2023 . The next phase will include an additional 10MW of IT load by the end of 2025 . The infrastructure will be fully modular with all critical plant rooms being prefabricated off-site .”

“ South Africa is a strategic location , being at the southern-most point of Africa and is undoubtedly the de facto data centre and technology hub for the sub-Saharan Africa region ,” said Durvasula . “ This , in conjunction with the increasing fibre connectivity brought by both undersea and terrestrial fibre networks , makes it at the vanguard of data centre expansion on the continent ”.

Tesh Durvasula , CEO of Africa Data Centres

The company recently said it is expanding its capacity in Johannesburg to 100MW of IT load . This announcement comes hot on the heels of the recent launch of a new 10MW data centre at the company ’ s campus in Midrand and the expansion of the organisation ’ s operations in Accra , Ghana .

“ This is a step forward in the organisation ’ s massive expansion plans announced in September , the most ambitious data centre expansion plans Africa has ever seen ,” said Durvasula .

Africa Data Centres ’ ongoing investments in world-class data centre facilities will enable global cloud clients to service South Africa and the entire sub-Saharan African region . Once the Samrand facility expansion is completed , Africa Data Centre ’ s entire platform capacity is expected to exceed 100MW .

Africa Data Centres continues to invest heavily into the region ’ s ICT infrastructure and can now confidently say it is the continent ’ s largest and best data centre operator . The organisation ’ s carrier- and vendor-neutral offering ensures that clients can access interconnection and best-inclass data centre infrastructure . In addition , the expansion of the Samrand facility and growth plans , shine the spotlight on our dedication and commitment to driving digital forward in Africa . p

This will see the data centre giant building large hyper-scale data centres across Africa , including the top five data centre markets in North Africa , namely Morocco , Tunisia , Kenya , South Africa and Egypt .

“ Our unmatched investment of US $ 500 million will enable Africa Data Centres to build numerous interconnected , cloudand carrier-neutral data centres across the continent . It will more than double our already significant footprint on the continent and aims to help Africa achieve its Digital Transformation goals ,” said Durvasula .

58 INTELLIGENTCIO AFRICA www . intelligentcio . com