IX AFRICA only just beginning to build in South America and Sub-Saharan Africa .” IXAfrica , it would appear , is ahead of the curve .
DID YOU KNOW ...
NRB01 - EAST AFRICA ’ S LARGEST CARRIER NEUTRAL DATA CENTRE CAMPUS
IXAfrica ’ s first campus is located on a 17,300 square metre plot beside the road that runs between Nairobi and Mombasa . The development comprises three data centre buildings : a 4,314 square metre facility with two data halls and 4.5 MW of critical IT capacity ; a 6,098 square metre facility with three data halls and 9 MW of capacity ; and a 5,175 square metre facility with two data halls and a capacity of 5.4 MW . Upon full buildout of the planned data centres , the facility will deliver just under 19 MW of capacity across 3,564 racks divided throughout 6,621 square metres of white space .
Hyperscale in Nairobi “ The campus is tailor-made for hyperscale clients ,” says Clement Martineau , the other co-founder of IXAfrica , who is currently working as its Director of Operations , overseeing the ongoing construction of the site and building up a local team . Compared to IXAfrica ’ s domestic competition , which Martineau explains “ is typically very traditional colocation services offered through low density , small capacity data centres ”, IXAfrica ’ s campus has the potential to be “ able to deliver close to 40 MW of IT capacity ” that - thanks to the favourable local climate and infrastructure , as well as some intelligent design , will “ deliver a level of power usage efficiency ( PUE ) that is competitive with other data centres all over the world , not only with other data centres in Africa .”
The location of NRB01 is ideal . The campus , Willner explains , is situated “ on one of the major routes from downtown Nairobi to the city ' s airport , along the Nairobi- Mombasa Road ,” adding that “ It ' s about 2km from the main telecoms hub in Kenya , so we can tap into all of the connectivity that it offers , which is really important .”
The project , Martineau explains , is nearing the completion of its first phase , a 4.5 MW data centre that will begin operating either at the end of this year or very early in 2022 . “ We are almost done with the shell construction and are entering the fit-out phase , bringing in all the equipment , from chillers , servers , and switch gears , to power and backup generators ,” he says . “ We will most-likely be one of the biggest data centres in Africa - the biggest in East Africa by far - when the project is completed .”
70 August 2021