Top data centre providers in South Africa
The South African data centre market has grown substantially in recent years, and Teraco, Africa Data Centres, Business Connexion (BCX), and Open Access Data Centre (OADC) are among the best providers in the country.
These companies have also been investing heavily in expanding their operations in South Africa, opening several large data centres across the country.
This growth and investment in South Africa’s data centre market benefits the economy and provides employment opportunities for its residents.
Undersea cable and network services provider Seacom said local data centre facilities improve Internet speeds and enhance processing power for the country’s businesses, heightening economic competition.
In turn, this has a ripple effect and increases South Africa’s presence in the global market.
Citing an Arizton report, Seacom estimates that investment in South Africa’s data centre market could increase by as much as 15% over the next four years.
The growth will follow massive investment in the market that saw billions of rands flow into the country over the past three years.
Some of the most significant developments and investments in South Africa from OADC, Teraco, Africa Data Centres, and BCX are summarised below.
Africa Data Centres
MyBroadband recently spoke to Africa Data Centres group executive for IT and partners Angus Hay regarding its Samrand data centre.
Hay explained that the data centre is one of few certified tier 4 facilities on the continent.
“Tier 4 is at the top of the list. It’s basically the benchmark in redundancy and availability,” he said.
“A tier 4 facility has fully redundant infrastructure, and that guarantees the highest availability and performance.”
The data centre has 6,000 square meters of white space across four data halls, each of which can support up to 600 server racks.
The provider initiated the purchase of the data centre from Standard Bank in April 2020, receiving the necessary Competition Tribunal approval in May of the same year.
Africa Data Centres explained that the centre has sufficient power and space for significant expansion, adding that it is widely regarded as the most reputable data centre in Africa.
“The unique combination of this outstanding facility with Africa Data Centres’ certified operational excellence makes it the ideal choice for the most demanding organisations, particularly those in the financial services sector,” former Africa Data Centres CEO Stephane Duproz said.
Africa Data Centres also has a facility in Midrand featuring 9,000 square meters of white space spread across eight data halls.
BCX
Telkom subsidiary BCX has 12 data centres across South Africa, three of which are tier 4 facilities, three are tier 3, and the remaining six are tier 2 facilities.
Two higher-tier facilities are located in Midrand, Gauteng, and the third is in Bellville in the Western Province.
Two tier three facilities are located in Centurion, with the third in Bellville.
The remainder of its data centres include three in KwaZulu-Natal, one in Century City, Cape Town, and its Crown Mines facility.
BCX opened its impressive Centurion head office — which offers around 36,000 square metres of office space and a 2,500 square metre warehouse — in 2017.
Image: Feenstra Group
Open Access Data Centres
West Indian Ocean Cable Company chief marketing officer Mike Last told MyBroadband that OADC’s network of edge data centres reached 26 operational facilities by the end of August 2022.
“In fact, with more new facilities coming up in September, we now have over 30 edge data centres operational in South Africa,” he said.
Last added that the data centre provider would soon announce the availability of new core data centres in South Africa’s business hubs.
OADC first announced that it had launched a large-scale, open-access edge data centre environment on the continent in May 2022.
It said the deployment would help support 5G rollouts and extensions in Africa.
OADC chief technical officer Bob Wright stated that Africa needed data centres beyond its major metropolitan areas.
“A presence in a single data centre is no longer sufficient to address a country or region,” he said.
“5G operators, ISPs and fibre operators are seeking cost-efficient ways to extend network reach into new markets, requiring network equipment to be securely housed in remote locations.”
The 0.5MW data centres offer colocation, rooftop access, and high-speed network interconnectivity between facilities at up to 100Gbps on multiple routes.
Teraco
Teraco Data Environments is South Africa’s biggest data centre company and has been instrumental in growing Internet traffic and reducing broadband prices in the country.
The company announced that it had completed the first phase of its new hyperscale data centre in Brackenfell, Cape Town, in October 2021.
The facility, known as CT2, features 25,000 square meters of building structure, 8,000 square meters of data hall space, and 18MW of critical power load.
It is linked to all other Teraco-owned data systems through a web of network operators making up “Platform Teraco”.
Teraco has added another data centre facility, featuring 2,600 square meters of white space, in Rondebosch.
The provider has seven data centres across the country, with its largest — and also the largest commercial data centre in Africa — being located in Bredell, Johannesburg.
Recently, a San Francisco-based real estate investment group, Digital Realty, valued Teraco at over R50 billion when it announced its intentions to buy a 55% stake in the company.
The deal went through on 1 August, and Teraco has been renamed Teraco: A Digital Realty Company.
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