Africa Data Centres has begun construction of a new state-of-the-art data centre facility in Midrand, Johannesburg.
Due for completion in 2021, the new site will offer a range of services to its customers from low – to high-density racks, supporting the growing trend of digital innovation.
“The scale of this facility recognises the growing demand for reliable data centre capacity in Africa and in addition to helping speed up South Africa’s digital transformation, it will increase Africa Data Centres own capacity with an additional 10 megawatts,” said Xavier Matagne, group development director at Africa Data Centres. “Our new facility will offer customers the flexibility they require from a co-location facility, irrespective of whether they are a small business needing a single low-density rack or one of the largest enterprises requiring multiple very high-density racks.”
With the build now underway, Matagne confirms that while certain parts of the project will be built on-site, others like the critical plant room are prefabricated off-site and integrated during construction.
”These modules, which are essential to operations, will be built in factories abroad where they can be thoroughly tested before being shipped to South Africa and plugged into the building. Firstly, to ensure the highest standards and quality, it is better to test these modules in a controlled environment as opposed to a construction environment. Secondly, given the time pressures that are natural for this type of project prefabricating them in this way, significantly reduced time to market.”
In addition, the new data centre has been designed to distribute power and cooling in the most efficient and cost-effective way to meet a wide range of customer demands.
”Africa Data Centres fully understand the energy challenges South Africa is currently facing and as such, efficiency is a major focus at the Johannesburg data centre,” added Matagne. “We will be monitoring the facility 24/7/365 and continually looking for ways to reduce power consumption, through the design and operations. Our focus is on the areas that matter – scalability, flexibility and energy efficiency. Africa Data Centres is perfectly positioned to supply world-class, cost-effective solutions to all its customers in the region.
