MTN Kenya intros server virtualisation

data at the company's offices, says Telecom Paper

This is upgrade from the present data collocating set-up, where customers move servers from their respective offices to the MTN Business Kenya data centre.

Up to four companies have already subscribed to the service, which will free space in their offices and reduce capital expenditure associated with buying, storing and maintaining physical servers as well as providing server security.

The MTN Business Kenya MD, Tom Omariba, assures customers that there is no heavy capital outlay to enable their businesses to be virtualised, since they only needed to upgrade their access circuit, while MTN Business would supply and install client software, CIO East Africa writes.

The publication says MTN Business has developed a pay-per-use billing system. Omariba says the payment model moves infrastructure costs from a capital expense to an operational expense, enabling clients to only pay for resources and licenses they use.

An advantage of having business data sitting on a virtualised server is that companies have various access channels to their data, for instance through IP-MPLS private links among others, he says. “In addition they support all mainstream operating systems and applications.”

According to Reuters, MTN Business Kenya, a corporate data unit of MTN, plans to double its clients and grow its revenue by 15 to 20% this year and will invest up to $4 million to attain that goal.

"We have 700 clients and we aim to double that... MTN is seeking to invest $3 million to $4 million in Kenya and we have four new products that we will introduce this year," Omariba says.

Apart from growing competition, Kenya's ICT industry faces other challenges including frequent power outages, he points out.