OADC ’ s newly appointed CEO , Ayotunde Coker , shares his vision for Africa ’ s future and the role OADC will play in the country ’ s transformation
WIOCC / OADC
OADC ’ s newly appointed CEO , Ayotunde Coker , shares his vision for Africa ’ s future and the role OADC will play in the country ’ s transformation
L ate 2021 saw WIOCC - the leading player in the deployment of carrier-scale , futureproofed network infrastructure into Africa - announce US $ 200mn in funding to launch a new pan-African data centre operator through WIOCC Group company Open Access Data Centres ( OADC ). Along with this announcement , OADC revealed its plans to invest US $ 500mn over the next five years in deploying and operating a network of world-class data centres across the continent .
Just over six months later , OADC ’ s newly appointed CEO , Ayotunde Coker , shares his plans to drive Africa ’ s digital ecosystem forward : “ We want to build at speed , expanding the market and delivering customer-centric value propositions . In Africa , the future is cloud . If you consider the business model for mobile telephony in Africa , its success was ensured by a pay-as-you-go charging model . The cloud is the most effective way to deliver technology solutions to customers – and again , is based on a pay-as-yougrow , pay-as-you-go , pay-as-you-need model .”
“ We see significant growth and further opportunity in the hyperscale cloud data centre market . Our new facility in Lagos , for example , is being built in phases to match demand , but can ultimately scale to over 20MW , capable of supporting over 5,000 racks . However , not every location requires facilities of this size . In more regional business hubs , a medium-sized data centre ( or ‘ midi ’), circa 200 to 400-rack facilities , for instance , is more appropriate , and for smaller edge workloads , edge facilities of up to 150kW critical power support services , applications and network extension closer to the network edge ; so , uniquely in Africa , we are doing all of this .”
162 October 2022