Tech firm to set up regional data hub in Nairobi

Kenya’s data centre market has a new suitor after Europe-based IXAfrica launched plans to build its ‘Africa Campus’ in Nairobi.

IXAfrica chairman Guy Willner said they had chosen Nairobi as their regional expansion Launchpad targeting partnerships with tech entrepreneurs that are helping to onboard local and regional firms into the paperless and automated regime.

“We are launching a major internet infrastructure project in Nairobi that will provide access to data centre and networks providing on-campus offices and facilities thereby enabling new tech businesses to thrive.”

Without disclosing the cost of the investment, Mr Willner who earlier co-owned IXEurope that was later sold off for Sh60.8 billion(555 million USD) after which he resolved to concentrate on launching datacenters in emerging markets, especially Africa.

IXAfrica data centres, he said, which are designed to accommodate modern high-load servers and infrastructure for ultra-dense computing will ride on the most energy-efficient and engineering solutions largely based on green technology initiatives.

“Alongside sustainability, data sovereignty is also a major issue across the planet and IXAfrica’s new hyperscale-ready campus will allow companies to fully comply with privacy and localisation laws while providing the fastest, lowest latency access possible to the region’s over 300 million population,” he said.

IXAfrica is to be located within Nairobi’s central business district 1.2km from Kenya’s main telecoms access node.

“We believe our ambitious project will allow both enterprises and government to further harness technology to help create a greener future. Our team members each have twenty years of experience in the data centre industry and this, combined with strong investor support of our many international clients and partners give us grounds to be confident,” he said.

Data centre business continues to gain coinage across Kenya with banks, telcos, learning institutions as well as governments signing business partnerships to entrench use of cloud services for their business processes.

This allows firms to concentrate on their core business while allowing data centre operators to man their servers onsite or remotely while ensuring their platforms are not only available round the clock but also secure.