Afcacia

Pan-African data center, Africa Data Centres has announced that enterprise cloud services provider, Unitellas will deploy Zadara’s global federated edge service to its new facility in Lagos, Nigeria.

The move follows the announcement in July 2021 when Africa Data Centres added edge cloud services by Global sense to its Midrand marketplace in South Africa.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Africa Data Centres, Tesh Durvasula said despite West African enterprises looking at cloud technology, it will be vital to building trust to mitigate concerns around data sovereignty, security, and privacy.

Mr Durvasula added that those issues will be addressed with importance, with the involvement of new cloud providers.

“Enterprises can take advantage of the cost, flexibility and scalability of the cloud, while local data centers provide the unique ability to control, localize and secure physical access to data. Through our ecosystem of partners, customers have access to multiple cloud onramps and connectivity options. Data centers and cloud technology provide a platform for effective disaster recovery, cloud migrations and hybrid solutions. Increasing the richness of the ecosystem by adding solutions like Zadara through Unitellas, makes our Lagos-based offering even more attractive to West African players,” said Mr Durvasula.

Africa Data Centres has facilities across Africa’s major regional business and trade hubs.

These facilities are highly connected, physically secure and efficient. They are designed, built and operated to the standards demanded by leading global cloud providers, carriers and enterprises and aim to help drive Africa’s digital transformation using the network.

“Providing local access to world-class cloud technology aligns with our strategy of digitally transforming Africa,” added Mr Durvasula.

Managing Director and CEO of Unitellas, Smith Osemeke said cloud services are timely to the continent as the African data center market is expected to experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15% over the coming years.

“Having this presence in a local data center provides the unique ability to control, localize and secure physical access to data,” said Mr Osemeke.

The MD added that critical data of businesses and citizens of Nigeria will be stored locally, hence eliminating the risk of leaks or access by foreign agents or nations.
He added that the move will promote greater confidence in local technology and a boom in domestic tech ecosystems and economic growth for the country.

“We are proud to work with Africa Data Centres – their state-of-the-art data centers combined with Zadara technology will allow African organizations access to advanced, localized compute network and storage cloud services. Together, we are enabling customers to reduce cost, increase agility and drive productivity within their businesses,” added Mr Osemeke.