Africa-focused datacentre service and infrastructure firm Open Access Data Centres (OADC) has deployed what it describes as Africa’s first large-scale, open-access edge datacentre environment or OADC Edge, in South Africa.

The company says this is the first step in a wider rollout of OADC Edge across the continent, with Nigeria expected to be the next country to benefit later this year.

OADC is consolidating edge computing, edge datacentres and hyperscale connectivity within a single ecosystem and the company asserts that by doing this, “it will expedite the realisation of business opportunities for its clients.”

According to OADC, the ability to locate equipment securely at remote locations is critical to 5G operators, ISPs and fibre providers looking to extend network reach into new markets.

The company explains, “Latency improvements from serving content locally bring an enhanced end-user experience and are fundamental to the successful rollout of new, time-critical applications, whilst the ability to process large volumes of critical data before it is forwarded to larger, regional facilities, improves efficiency whilst also reducing backhaul costs.”

OADC CTO Bob Wright.

OADC CTO Bob Wright adds, “In recent years, Africa has seen massive investment in hyperscale datacentres focused on the continent’s largest metropolitan areas. However, a presence in a single datacentre is no longer sufficient to address a country or region. 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.”

Wright continues: “At the same time, the growing desire to make content available and process ever-greater volumes of data closer to the customer is increasingly demanding implementation of a core-to-edge architecture, with meshed local and regional data centres fully connected into Africa’s network infrastructure across multiple countries and cities. OADC is building Africa’s edge data centre infrastructure to support clients seeking cost-effective network extension, and those who are changing their infrastructure deployment strategies to fulfil demand for content closer to the network edge - for improved availability and premium performance - or to optimise networking and storage costs by pre-processing data locally.”

Integral to OADC’s core-to-edge, open-access, edge datacentre offering is the establishment of new, regional datacentres covering major cities - initially across South Africa - and rollout of over one hundred 0.5 MW OADC Edge datacentres, in what the company says s the largest deployment of open-access datacentres on the continent.

The first 17 OADC Edge datacentres are already live in South Africa offering colocation, rooftop access and high-speed network interconnectivity between facilities at up to 100Gbps and on multiple routes for diversity, OADC continues.

Sites are fully monitored by our 24/7/365 Network Operation Centre (NOC), providing clients with the assurance and security they demand.

OADC says rollout is continuing into key connectivity hubs, with new 2-3MW, Tier-III regional OADC facilities coming online during Q3 2022 and more than 100 OADC Edge datacentres expected to be live by the end of 2022.