Dr Ayotunde Coker, CEO, OADC.

Pan-African datacentre company Open Access Data Centres (OADC) has announced the deployment of three new OADC EDGE datacentres in South Africa.

OADC EDGE DCs offer colocation, rooftop access and high-speed network interconnectivity between facilities at up to 100Gbps and on multiple routes for diversity.

The WIOCC Group company said the datacentres will be live by the end of September, and are located in East London, George and Paarl, along national fibre routes to ensure availability of high-capacity interconnectivity.

In November last year OADC announced a US$500-million-plus multi-year investment programme “to construct and operate a network of more than 20 world-class, carrier-neutral, GreenStar and Uptime Institute Tier III accredited datacentres across Africa, optimised to serve the needs of the cloud provider and wholesale community.”

ITWeb Africa reported that OADC confirmed it will deploy datacentre facilities “strategically” throughout the continent, focusing on key locations for connectivity in each country “… and with each delivering an exceptional client experience - from initial contact to consultative development and deployment of future-proof solutions tailored to clients’ specific needs and to world-class, ISO-certified standards.”

OADC is consolidating edge computing, edge datacentres and hyperscale connectivity within a single ecosystem.

This ecosystem is accelerating delivery by 5G operators, ISPs and fibre providers of life-enhancing services across South Africa, enabling rapid and cost-effective deployment of required high-quality, low-latency network infrastructure, the company stated.

In May this year OADC deployed its first EDGE datacentre in South Africa and in July appointed African datacentre industry leader Dr Ayotunde Coker as its CEO.

Dr Coker is tasked with driving the company’s objective to support and accelerate Africa’s digital transformation.

He said, “We are continuing our OADC EDGE expansion to more of South Africa’s business hubs to meet the demands of 5G operators, ISPs and fibre operators for support in extending network reach into even more locations. With almost 30 EDGE facilities now operational, we are bringing a transformational proposition to the South African market; one that we intend to start rolling out to more countries in the new year.”

“Like our core DCs, OADC EDGE facilities are open access and carrier-neutral - any licenced operator can bring fibre into OADC DCs at no charge to support clients’ connectivity requirements,” continued Coker.

Integral to OADC’s core-to-edge, open-access DC offering is the launch of core DCs in each of the country’s major connectivity hubs, supplementing its nationwide rollout of more than 100 0.5MW OADC EDGE DCs.

According to the company, new 2-3MW, Tier III OADC facilities are undergoing fit-out and will be coming online before the end of the year in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

OADC added that Nigeria is expected to be next in line to benefit later this year.