Breaking News
- Seplat Boss Identifies Gas as Catalyst for Economic Growth
- Greenwich Merchant Bank Appoints Rotimi MD/CEO
- Africa Prudential Plc Appoints Zubaida Rasheed Director
- FBNQuest Raises Target Price of Zenith Bank on Improved Results
- Algerian dates to be exported for 1st time without going through Tunisia
- Trade Minister chairs meeting on Ramadan preparations
- Takeda to Divest Four Diabetes Products in Japan to Teijin Pharma Limited
- How to choose your ‘safe vehicle’? RoadSafetyUAE & Drive Ninja Partnership
- CGTN: What Are Generations of Chinese Communists Striving For?
- Western Union Expands Global B2B Payments Platform
- DMS’ media partner Dailymotion launches powerful video solution at no extra cost for Publishers & Broadcasters
- Nigeria seeks asset managers for $2.6bn infrastructure firm
- Time for a digital scale-up in Africa to unlock the continent’s untapped creative economies, panelists say
- Usiku Games targets 8 million pupils with mobile edutainment games
- LG launches social impact challenge to support innovative community projects in Kenya
- Faulu Bank to lend Ksh.3 billion to local SMEs
- Auto, Travel Insurance Companies Lose DZD300B In A Year
- C3 AI Awarded Robust Omnibus U.S. Patent for End-to-End Enterprise AI Platform
- C3 AI and Baker Hughes to Provide Enterprise AI Solutions to Accelerate PETRONAS Digital Transformation Program
- TAWAZUN STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT FUND LLC and TITOMIC LTD Sign MOU to Collaborate Towards Setting up an Advanced Industrial Scale 3D Printing Manufacturing Facility in the United Arab Emirates
- Colicity Inc. Announces Closing of $345 Million Initial Public Offering
- Honda Motor Co.(Middle East and Africa) Announces the Biggest Launch of the Year
- Diligent to Acquire Steele Compliance Solutions
- Andersen Global Enhances Caribbean Platform with Baptiste & Co. Law Firm
- Lenovo to Be Main Sponsor of Red Bull Illume Image Quest 2021
- Universal Peace Federation: From Pandemic to Peace: Become an Ambassador of Change
- Featurespace Launches Automated Deep Behavioral Networks
- Journal of Allergy and Infectious Disease Review Confirms Nasal Hygiene Options Are Effective Tools as Part of Multilayered Defense Against COVID-19
- Ipsen, Pfizer Pharm and MSD Animal health topping the list of the Best Places To Work in Algeria 2021
- Global government IT spending to reach $483 billion in 2021, study
- Honeywell And IDEMIA Partner to Develop Intelligent Building Offering
- South African Educators develop mobile app for learning institutions
- South African Educators develop mobile app for learning institutions
- InfraCo Africa invests in Acorn Holding’s $10m REIT for affordable student accommodation in Nairobi, Kenya
- Strathmore University Launches Master’s Program for Data Scientists in Kenya
- Manchester United partners with StarTimes to offer MUTV in Africa
- CGTN: Classics Quoted by Xi Jinping: Why Do the People Support the CPC?
- Hyosung TNS Invites Customers to ‘Be Inspired’ With New Campaign
- Moody’s ESG Solutions Group: V.E Provides Second Party Opinion on Italy’s First Sovereign Green Bond Framework and Issuance
- International Zinc Association Launches Zinc Battery Initiative
- Moody’s Analytics Earns Category Leader in All Four Chartis ALM Report Quadrants
- Wipro Marks 25 Years of Partnership With Cisco; Launches Cisco Business Unit
- WDR expands HD capacity with SES on ASTRA 19.2 degrees East
- Diligent to Become Largest Global GRC SaaS Company through Galvanize Acquisition
- L&T Technology Services Selected by Airbus for Skywise Partner Programme
- ReNew Power, India’s Leading Renewable Energy Company, to Publicly List through Business Combination with RMG Acquisition Corporation II in $8 Billion Transaction
- Notice of ABB’s Annual General Meeting on March 25, 2021
- ABB Publishes 2020 Annual Report
- Libya, Algeria discuss strengthening joint cooperation
- Côte d’Ivoire in talks with EU for €1bln cocoa loan
Rack Centre announces $100m expansion to create West Africa’s largest data centre
Rack Centre, carrier neutral data centre operator in West Africa, announced an expansion programme that will increase capacity to a total net lettable white space of 6000 square metres and allow for 13MW of IT power capacity in its Lagos campus, Nigeria.
This will be in addition to the current expansion already underway to double existing capacity to 1.5MW and 1,200 square metres of white space in early 2021. The expansion will bring unprecedented carrier neutral scale to West Africa and is in response to increasing demand for data centre space from cloud uptake, telecommunication investment and outsourcing of IT facilities by enterprises in the region.
In March 2020, Actis, a London private equity firm, announced an investment in Rack Centre, taking a controlling stake in the business alongside Jagal. The funding for this expansion will come from a $250m pan-African data centre platform established by Actis and Convergence Partners, a leading ICT infrastructure investor in Africa. In addition to Rack Centre, the platform is also actively developing additional buy and build opportunities across Africa, to establish a network of carrier neutral data centres aimed at catering to carrier, cloud and hyperscale customers.
Tim Parsonson, co-founder of Teraco Data Environments, the largest carrier neutral operator in Africa, joined the Board as Chairperson. The platform has also engaged Frank Hassett, a veteran of the global data centre industry and previous Vice President of Infrastructure at Equinix, who brings over 1300MW of build and operate experience, to assist with hyperscale expansion.
Andile Ngcaba, chairman of Convergence Partners said: ''Africa is at the start of a critical time in its development, as the 4th industrial revolution offers the chance to leapfrog many of Africa’s challenges and harness the immense potential of its people. Convergence Partners is delighted to partner with Actis in accelerating the growth of high quality data centre infrastructure, an indispensable part of the foundation of this revolution in the region.''
With 138 million Internet subscribers, more than any country in Africa or Europe, and the largest population and GDP in Africa, Nigeria is a key entry point for global telecommunications, content and cloud players seeking access to the region. However, a lack of cost effective, energy efficient IT infrastructure has been a constraint to doing business in the region.
Rack Centre brings global best practice to Nigeria, as the first carrier neutral data centre in the region to achieve Uptime Institute Tier III Certification of Constructed Facility (TCCF). As a uniquely scale carrier neutral player, Rack Centre allows unrestricted connectivity between customers, telecommunication carriers and internet exchange points within its data centres.
Dr Ayotunde Coker, Managing Director of Rack Centre said: ''We are proud of the quality and scale bar we have set in the region and are scaling to be the de-facto digital data hub for West Africa. Mass adoption of digital working models and content distribution is driving growing investment in the region and Rack Centre offers a world class location to house these IT and telecoms facilities.''
Supporting this ambition, engineering consultancy Arup was appointed for the project. Arup’s multidisciplinary data centre design teams are world leaders in the design and construction of data centres, having designed over 2,000MW of IT capacity for industry leading tech giants and co-location providers across the globe.
africabusinesscommunities