Page 9 - EngineerIT May 2022

ICT DATACENTRES

Demand for datacentre capacity on

African continent underestimated

By Hans van de Groenendaal, editor EngineerIT

hen Africa Data Centres, a has allowed us to make investment
division of the Cassava group, decisions on new locations and
Wannounced last year it plans confidently commit to expanding selected
to build ten hyperscale data centres in existing locations, resulting in the largest
ten countries throughout Africa, including investment of its kind in history”.
the North African countries of Morocco, “This commitment to Africa,
Tunisia and Egypt, questions were asked through the continuous deployment of
if that would not create an oversupply of capital-intensive infrastructure projects,
capacity. has pivotal knock-on effects for the
I asked the same question during a communities and economies we serve.
one-on-one interview with the newly All our data centres are world-class –
appointed CEO, Tesh Durvasula. He said built to the same, global standard and
that in his nearly 30 years of working offer a reliable, resilient, secure and
in the datacentre world the industry interconnected base. “
made a career of underestimating the “This allows multinational
demand for datacentre services. Gartner organisations to confidently enter the
recently made a prediction that by market, knowing their future growth Tesh Durvasula
2030 Africa, would require a capacity is assured and they have access to
of 1 gigawatt and between 500 to 700 open carrier systems to the rest of the Africa Data Centres’ investment
data centres to meet the forecasted continent. Additionally, without access reflects well as a catalyst for the continued
uptake of datacentre services. “We to always-on, high-speed data centre direct foreign investment into the
are continually underestimating the facilities, the private sector cannot continent and the positive growth of local
requirement, so no, I am not concerned compete globally and will see slowed organisations.
that our expansion would create an growth locally; equally important is the “Our experience from across the
oversupply in the market. The pressure impact IT services have on the public continent is that the strategic value of
is on building infrastructure whether it is sector – from healthcare to transport data centres has both immediate and
in Nigeria, South Africa, or Morocco, the infrastructure.” long-term effects on the economy and the
opportunities are there.
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.
Durvasula explained that the finance
for the roll-out has been provided by
equity and loans to Africa Data Centres’
parent company to fully fund the
expansion. “We have already begun to
acquire land in these countries and plan
to roll-out very quickly. 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 Africa Data Centres Midrand data centre opened in October 2021

EngineerIT | May 2022 | 7