Data centre mind shift
Data centre provider Teraco is set on shaking up the local hosting market with its vendor-free data centres. "Teraco offers a world-class solution, based on shared IT facilities free of restrictive vendor affiliations, and is set to take its place as a trusted player in the global marketplace," said Teraco MD Lex van Wyk.
The company is managed by CEO Tim Parsonson and Van Wyk, who left Storm after it was sold to JSE-listed telecoms provider Vox Telecom for R360 million. Apart from Parsonson and Van Wyk, other shareholders include BEE investor Treacle PE.
Teraco recently opened its first data centre in Cape Town. Based in the Great Westerford building in Newlands the new 500 square meter data centre is focusing on providing hosting space to service providers and high-end clients such as carriers, ISPs, managed service providers and corporate businesses.
According to Van Wyk, Telkom, Neotel, Fastnet, MTN Business and Vodacom Business will have connectivity in the data centre, making it easy for hosts to negotiate connectivity with a vendor of choice. The multi-vendor "dense connectivity environment" also makes peering easy and creates a flexible hosting space.
Teraco does not get involved in any connectivity agreements and the company’s business model is based purely on selling hosting space – with a minimum requirement of a single server rack – to clients. This model has worked well internationally and one of the Teraco investors comes from the vendor-neutral hosting business.
Van Wyk said that Web Africa and Fastnet had already moved servers into the Teraco data centre in Cape Town, with many other companies in the pipeline. Teraco is also constructing a 2000 square meter data centre in Isando in Johannesburg and is expected to start working on a second Cape Town data centre soon.
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