Africa Data Centres to build again in ‘Africa’s largest datacentre market’
Expansion of facility up to 20MW; with completion expected in 2023.
Africa Data Centres, part of the Cassava Technologies Group, has announced that it is building a second datacentre in Cape Town, South Africa.
According to a statement released by the company, the new 20MW facility will cover 15,000 square meters in eight data halls and is situated on the northern periphery of Cape Town city centre.
Tesh Durvasula, CEO, Africa Data Centres, there is a clear pipeline of demand for colocation space that cannot be served from the existing Diep River data centre. "The new Cape Town facility is a critical part of Africa Data Centres expansion drive in the area".
Africa Data Centres said the site is located in a secure business park that is well-served by two major national roads, the N7 and M12, and is in close proximity to several key points in Cape Town, including the city centre, the V&A Waterfront harbour, and Cape Town International Airport.
“… and is within easy reach of Africa Data Centres' existing Africa Data Centres' facility in Diep River,” the company added.
It said that with expected growth of data volumes in South Africa, the demand for the capacity to store and process it increases as well.
"This is why Africa Data Centres has such ambitious expansion plans in the region. As Africa's largest and leading network of interconnected, carrier- and cloud-neutral data centre facilities, we are continually working to provide the infrastructure to help companies achieve their digital goals."
According to Africa Data Centres, there are several regions experiencing high datacentre demand in Africa, and datacentre capacity has more than doubled in the past few years.
“South Africa is leading the charge and is now brimming with new projects,” it stated and added that Cape Town is the number two datacentre market in South Africa with a connectivity ecosystem made up of several colocation datacentres and a wide range of cloud service providers and networks.
South Africa remains the largest datacentre market on the continent and has been ranked number 25 globally by Cloudscene based on datacentre density.
Durvasula added: "Hyper-scaler cloud providers have been eyeing the region for some time, with Amazon opening its first African cloud datacentre in South Africa in April 2020. In addition, Google Cloud recently selected Africa Data Centres as the first location for Google Cloud Interconnect in Africa".
Research estimates that the market for datacentres in Africa is expected to reach between US$3- billion and US$5-billion in the next four years, growing at a compound annual growth rate of between 12 and 15%, depending on the report.
“Over and above bringing digital services to Capetonians, the facility will create a wide range of job opportunities through the provision of digital services and hiring local contractors and workers for the builds, from entry to high-tech level,” the company continued.
The Cape Town build is currently in the initial design phase, with work set to start on site in the last quarter of 2022. Completion is scheduled for the end of 2023.