South African vendor-neutral data centre company Teraco has teamed up with one of the world's largest data centre operators, Telehouse.
This will provide Telehouse's 60 telecommunications operator clients access to the African markets.
It also marks the first entry of a Japanese telecoms firm into the South African and African market, as Telehouse is owned by Tokyo-listed KDDI, the 10th largest carrier globally.
Teraco MD Lex van Wyk says the significance of this tie-up is that, on a strategic level, it means that established Telehouse clients will be able to locate and operate their data servers in either Teraco's Johannesburg or Cape Town facilities, and these data centres will gain international recognition.
“The opening of the telecommunications market, combined with the increased international bandwidth and connectivity options to SA and other parts of the continent, means Africa is becoming a more attractive market for international data centre operators and their telecommunications clients,” he notes.
Van Wyk says the value of the deal is not being disclosed. It means Teraco will have to expand its Johannesburg and Cape Town facilities, located in Isando and Rondebosch, respectively, as soon as possible. Telehouse will lease space from Teraco and will market these as “Telehouse Johannesburg” and “Telehouse Cape Town”.
Telehouse claims to be the first company to pioneer the carrier-neutral data centre market globally. The business started in 1988, in Docklands, London. It has grown to house the London Internet Exchange, more than 60 carriers, and over 700 ISPs, service providers, ICT companies and enterprise customers in London.
It has over 20 data centres worldwide, spanning UK, France, the US and Asia.
“Telehouse has an impressive heritage in the data centre industry, a very strong international carrier customer base, and a reputation for high levels of reliability and security. We have built a unique facility in SA and we look forward, through Telehouse's global relationships, to further extending the choice of carriers, networks and service providers available to customers within our facilities,” Van Wyk says.
Andrew Fray, business development director at Telehouse, says: “This is a major step forward for Telehouse as we seek to establish our footprint in Africa. We can now offer Telehouse customers secure managed co-location space in two major cities and a one-stop-shop for those seeking space in the UK, SA and Telehouse locations around the world. This is a great opportunity for carriers, ISPs, ASPs and enterprise customers to establish a firm foothold in Africa to support their critical ICT infrastructures.”
“With deregulation, we can predict rapid evolution of the market over the next two years. Already we are seeing significant activity in the run up to the 2010 Fifa World Cup and now is a good time for companies to build a reliable point of presence here,” Van Wyk says.
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