TERACO DATA ENVIRONMENTS: African Data Centres Located at the Digital Edge

Teraco is Africa’s most interconnected data centre hub, providing carrier and cloud-neutral colocation data centres with over 20,000 cross-connects. “As the first provider of highly resilient, vendor-neutral data environments in sub-Saharan Africa, Teraco brings global content closer to the digital edge,” the company outlines.

World-class data centre infrastructure and network dense ecosystems mean that Teraco represents a vital part of the backbone of African internet, as well as playing an integral part of the digital transformation strategy so vital to modern enterprise. Ever-expanding ecosystems move Teraco beyond colocation – housing privately-owned servers and networking equipment in a third-party data centre – and firmly establish it as an open marketplace for digital growth and innovation.

“Discovering new business partners, making strategic interconnection choices, on-ramping to your choice of cloud, and reaching new markets globally – Teraco provides a highly secure, flexible and resilient home for digital organisations the world over,” says the industry leader. The result is purpose-built solutions, operated by an expert organisation and with an absolute focus on data centre technology and infrastructure. 

CONSTRUCTING CRUCIAL CAPACITY

This focus resulted in the addition of yet more crucial capacity in the country last year, including a 29MW injection in South Africa’s largest city. The completion of Teraco’s JB3 data centre within its Isando campus in Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg, translated to a 45,000 square metre structure containing 12,000 square metres of data hall space. It means that Teraco now possesses 40MW of capacity on the campus, able to be further expanded as required.

JB3 represents a superb strategic addition to Platform Teraco. Enterprises are offered a scalable platform like never before for IT infrastructure deployment while sustaining performance, reliability, security and wide network choice. “This investment aligns with the support we pledged to the South African Government’s investment drive and our commitment to investing billions of Rand into South Africa’s digital infrastructure,” explained Jan Hnizdo, CEO, as Teraco works toward ensuring its long-term vision of enabling digital transformation across the African continent.

“As the leading interconnection hub across the continent, Teraco has over 600 clients, including key networks, cloud providers, global content, managed IT service providers, and direct access to Africa’s largest Internet exchange, NAPAfrica; within its multitude of data centres.”

More capacity is needed in South Africa, this much is clear, and Teraco is determined to be at the forefront of the charge to provide it. “At the onset of a new decade, it is increasingly acknowledged that Africa needs a lot more data centre capacity than is currently available,” concluded African Data Centres Association (ADCA) and Xalam Analytics’ Growing Africa’s Data Center Ecosystem: An Assessment of Utility Requirements insight.

“Expanding the breadth of Africa’s data centre capacity is fundamental to reducing latency, optimising intra-African traffic flows, and slashing operating costs in the broader African economic supply chain.”

These factors make Teraco’s expansion efforts all the more vital, and the Isando campus was not its only facility subject to a major uplift last year; in October, news emerged that it had successfully finished the first phase of its second data centre in Cape Town, CT2. The first phase comprises a sprawling 25,000 square metres structure providing 18MW of capacity, which can swell to 36MW through Teraco’s astute securing of adjacent land and power with future expansion firmly in mind.

One of Africa’s most digitally connected cities, Cape Town is a logical destination for Teraco’s continued investment into data centre infrastructure on the continent, home as it is to thriving digitally connected enterprises. These number telecommunications, financial services, e-commerce, logistics, and retail, and the new multi-billion-rand data centre facility dramatically extends Platform Teraco’s capacity in the Western Cape, according to Hnizdo.

“Forming a vital part of the African IT landscape, Platform Teraco is an essential part of the modern enterprise’s digital transformation strategy with its diverse industry ecosystems and open interconnection marketplace,” Hnizdo said.

“Teraco is making significant investments in providing access to digital infrastructure that is hyper-connected, resilient and flexible,” he summed up. “This offers enterprises the ability to scale as network strategies evolve in a world where fast and secure interconnection with strategic business partners and cloud on-ramps are a source of competitive advantage.” 

A DIGITAL REALTY COMPANY

Since its founding in 2008 by Tim Parsonson and Lex van Wyk, Teraco has grown its facilities to become the biggest data centre platform in Africa, with its Platform Teraco offering the widest choice of local and global cloud on the continent. “The ability to serve local and global markets through digital channels is critical in the connected world we live in today,” the company observes.

Just last month it was revealed that Digital Realty, the largest global provider of cloud and carrier-neutral data centre, colocation and interconnection solutions, had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a majority stake in Teraco from a consortium of investors, including Berkshire Partners and Permira.

Giving the company a valuation of R53.6 billion, the transaction will result in a powerful combination and provide Teraco continued access to capital to grow, and being backed by a global leader will allow South Africa’s industry leader to access a broad suite of skills and knowledge from the Digital Realty global platform and continue to grow the Teraco ecosystem.

Teraco’s SA footprint, in turn, combined with Digital Realty’s existing facilities in Nigeria and Kenya and its Mediterranean interconnection hubs in Marseilles and Athens, will significantly strengthen what is already a leading pan-African position.

“We are excited to enter our next chapter by joining forces with Digital Realty to create a truly global, scaled platform serving our customers in Africa and beyond,” enthused Jan Hnizdo. “Our combined platform will be uniquely positioned to serve the full customer spectrum with the ability to support their growth around the world.

“We look forward to working with the Digital Realty team to extend our state-of-the-art data centre and connectivity solutions to capitalise on the favourable industry trends and tremendous market opportunity.”

Digital Realty Chief Executive Officer A. William Stein echoed the significance of the partnership, and the opportunities it affords to both sides on the eve of a digital dawn on the continent. “This highly strategic transaction immediately cements Digital Realty as the leading colocation provider in Africa, a region experiencing rapid digital transformation,” he pointed out. “Teraco is the industry leader in South Africa and the continent’s connectivity hub.

“This investment will enhance our ability to serve customers on a global basis by adding significant regional scale with a premier, network-dense portfolio in South Africa’s most strategically important metro areas. Teraco will also advance our strategy of increasing exposure to highly connected, network- and carrier-dense facilities to enhance our global coverage and connectivity capabilities.”