Africa INX, an IECNS licence holder and wholesale telecommunications provider in South Africa, has released data centre space in almost every major data centre facility in South Africa. Through the ongoing development of its metro fibre network, Africa INX provides its clients with data centre space options in Teraco, IS, Neotel, Continuity SA, MTN, Vodacom and Bytes.
"Data centre space and related strategies are becoming more relevant as service providers and their clients move into cloud-based offerings and services. Included in that is a requirement to have more than one facility to cater for DR and storage requirements. It's for these and other reasons that our ability to offer space in all these facilities and connect them together through our own metro fibre ring backbone has a strategic benefit to service providers and large organisations," says Stuart Hardy, MD of Africa INX.
It's becoming increasingly clear that data centre provider models are very different, especially in regards to how they price power and related services. Some providers are still not billing for power separately, where others are. Some charge R10 000 per month for a cross connect while others charge R450. The financial implications in this regard can be very different for an organisation hosting its services in one data centre as opposed to another.
"We made a decision several years ago to not develop our own data centres, and rather to focus on the supporting network and infrastructure. But as we have grown, we have also realised that the commercial models of data centres are so different, that supporting only one will allow you to only address a portion of the market. Today, we discuss requirements with our clients that are based on what they need, and what their financial requirements are, and fit them with the appropriate data centre. It's less prescriptive than the rest of the market that only want to sell their own space. Because we have a metro fibre ring, it makes no difference to us where clients house their data centre requirements."
Hardy also believes that most historical data centre providers are still far too restrictive in their models, literally forcing clients to only using their own network services.
"Clients that take data centre space from Africa INX will have unrestricted access to any other service provider available in the network. This is a further key benefit of separating the data centre from the infrastructure, which is not available in most facilities. The cost benefits of such an option can be considerable," ends Hardy.
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