Teraco has announced that it is constructing Africa's largest data centre on the outskirts of Johannesburg to be housed in a 17 500sqm building.

The company already owns data centres in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg.

Gys Geyser, Head of Operations at Teraco described the development as a milestone for the company and Africa's data centre industry. "In this expansion of our footprint, we are achieving what few companies have; building the largest data centre in Africa in accordance with modern international standards."

Geyser says the construction project brings the total size of the facility in Johannesburg's industrial town of Isando to 9000 sqm of white space and 18 500sqm of utility space.

He adds that the volume of data centre space is directly related to the power feed negotiated with the local council. "We now have a total of 16MVA of power, which will ensure that we can adequately power the all the data centres, as well as ensure that they are properly cooled and maintained."

Teraco says it has noted an increase in demand based on the number of local and international cloud, content and network providers coming into Africa, as well as from existing clients since its founding in 2008, particularly from within the managed service provider segment."

The company plans to conclude construction in 18 months time, although operations will begin towards the end of 2016.

Geyser mentions the approach to cooling as one of the unique aspects of the project.

"Teraco has implemented a Dynamic Free Cooling system. We have taken what has worked in our previous deployments and applied the latest technology and best practices. Additional support services have been added, such as a water supply system to ensure that our environment can operate independently from council for a period of time, guaranteeing uptime and availability. Aiming for a low Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) rating, the new cooling systems will definitely assist Teraco to achieve greater efficiencies," he said.

Teraco was granted permission to store 210 000 litres of diesel on site after completing an Environmental Impact Assessment. Geyser says that this is a significant achievement and will enable Teraco to run all the data centres for a minimum period of 40 hours at maximum load which will guarantee uptime.

"The overall design and build of the new data centre is focused on achieving international data centre design, build and operating standards but with our clients' current and future needs in mind," Geyser concluded.