Africa Data Centres, a Cassava Technologies business and the continent’s leading carrier-neutral co-location data centre provider, has expanded its capacity in Johannesburg with the opening a new state of the art 10 MW capacity data centre in Midrand. At a media briefing   CEO, Stephane Duproz said this is the beginning of a major expansion programme  to expand its hyper-scale and enterprise focused data centres at its existing campuses in Midrand and Samrand. The company is also in the process of  securing land for a third location to expands it data centre presence in Johannesburg to 100 MW

Africa Data Centres has set aside $500m to enable the company more than double its already significant footprint in Africa, which will boost digital transformation on the continent.

According to Duproz, the plans announced today for Africa Data Centres’ Johannesburg facilities are an integral part of the expansion, as South Africa is one of the key data centre markets in Africa, and a gateway for smaller neighbouring markets.

“Today’s announcements by Africa Data Centres and our expansion plans, highlights our commitment to accelerating digital transformation in Africa. Growing our data centres footprint is a key part of delivering on our vision of a digitally connected future that leaves no African behind”, added Hardy Pemhiwa the President & CEO of Cassava Technologies.

In September the company announced plans to build large hyperscale data centres throughout Africa, including the North African countries of Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. 

The project will involve building 10 hyperscale data centres, in 10 countries, over the next two years – at a cost of more than US$500m. It is being funded through new equity and facilities from leading development finance institutions and multilateral organisations. Africa Duproz, explained that the finance for the roll-out has been provided by equity and loans to Africa Data Centres’ parent company, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, to fully fund the expansion. 

Explaining the ambitious initiative, Duproz says, “We have already begun to acquire land in these countries and plan to roll-out very quickly to meet the needs of our existing and new customers. This is just the beginning for us.” The expansion will more than double Africa Data Centres’ already significant footprint on the continent.  

“Examining Africa’s growth trajectory has allowed us to make investment decisions on new locations and confidently commit to expanding selected existing locations, resulting in the largest investment of its kind in history,” Duproz said.

Growth

“This commitment to Africa, through the continuous deployment of capital-intensive infrastructure projects, has pivotal knock-on effects for the communities and economies we serve,” says Duproz. “All our data centres are world-class – built to the same, global market-leading standard and offer a reliable, resilient, secure and interconnected base. 

“This allows multinational organisations to confidently enter the market, knowing their future growth is assured and they have access to open carrier systems to the rest of the continent. Additionally, without access to always-on, high-speed data centre facilities, the private sector cannot compete globally and will see slowed growth locally; equally important is the impact IT services have on the public sector – from healthcare to transport infrastructure.” 

Sustainable, pan-African, neutral, interconnected

“We are Africa’s largest network of data centres – and we are growing perpetually. All of our facilities across the continent will remain interconnected, allowing our tenants to take advantage of our vast footprint. Furthermore, we guarantee carrier-neutrality – meaning our tenants benefit from competition, redundancy, and reliability. And, perhaps most importantly, is our commitment to sustainable, clean builds. We invest heavily in innovative grey-water systems, waste disposal and renewable energy sources, ensuring our carbon footprint is drastically reduced, our reliability is uncontested and while building economies, we’re aiding the environment”, Duproz said.