Africa Data Centre, Africa’s largest facility for interconnected, carrier- and cloud-neutral data services has recently revealed its R4 billion investment in two of it’s Johannesburg data centres. The facilities are expected to increase their IT handling load from 30MW to an impressive 100MW.
Africa Data Centres is under the Cassava Technologies group, an IT provider that operates in 13 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa. The group provides businesses with connectivity, web hosting, as well as colocation and digital services. It’s also home to Africa’s largest independent fibre network that stretches over 73,000km.
On top of this investment, African data centres have also put aside $500 million towards a long term expansion plan to further increase their operations in Africa. This will involve the planning and construction of a brand new data centre. “This is expected to boost digital transformation on the continent and we are allocating half of that to SA, as we are also planning an expansion of significant magnitude across both our Johannesburg-based data centres and a third data centre to be located in Johannesburg”, says CEO Stephane Duproz.
With the increase in demand for digital services and transformation of companies towards the cloud, more robust data centres are needed to meet this demand. “Africa Data Centres currently has the largest carrier-neutral data centre in Nairobi and East Africa as a whole. We have a dynamic ecosystem, in terms the largest number of connectivity providers on-site in the region, as well as the strongest leadership in the enterprise sector and financial services in particular”, says Duproz.
The company reveals these plans on the back of the goal of improving and accelerating digital transformation in Africa as a whole. According to the president and CEO of Cassava Technologies, the plan is to be a key part of Africa’s fully connected future. The company plans to make half of their data centres based in South Africa in the short term, and add more in the long term.
Digital transformation is on a fast-paced trajectory in South Africa and across the continent. Africa Data centres looks set to be a key player in facilitating broader and improved access to digital services in 2022 and beyond.
