OneData works with Workonline to strengthen network resilience

Olawale Owoeye, Managing Director and CEO of Cedarview Communications and Ciudad Infrastructure.

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More bandwidth does not automatically make a network faster or more resilient.

For a growing internet service provider, capacity from multiple providers, locations and routes can create operational complexity if those connections are not managed within a clear architecture. Alternative paths may exist, but traffic may still fail to move efficiently or provide sufficient protection when a primary route goes down.

OneData is addressing that issue with Workonline Communications as it reviews the architecture supporting its expanding service footprint.

The work includes capacity aggregation, a review of BGP routing, redundancy between points of presence and support for OneData’s application for additional IP address resources.

The objective is to give OneData greater control over how traffic moves through its network and to ensure capacity operates as part of an integrated system rather than as isolated connections.

“Buying additional capacity is only one part of building a high-performance network,” says Benjamin Deveaux, Head of Business Development at Workonline Communications Group.

“How that capacity is connected, routed and protected determines the customer experience. We are working with OneData’s engineers to strengthen the design so the network can scale without becoming more fragile or difficult to manage.”

OneData is the fibre broadband business operated by Ciudad Infrastructure Limited and supported by the Cedarview group. Its growth has brought additional infrastructure relationships, points of presence and upstream capacity, giving the ISP more traffic options but also increasing the need for coordinated routing and redundancy.

A key part of the engagement with Workonline is assessing how capacity from different locations and providers can be aggregated and managed more efficiently.

Without that coordination, an ISP may have capacity in several places while remaining dependent on specific routes or links. Traffic may not be distributed effectively, and backup connections may not take over as intended during an outage.

Workonline is reviewing OneData’s route advertisements, traffic exchange and alternative path selection so that redundancy is reflected in the routing configuration that governs day-to-day operations, not only in the network design.

“Workonline has approached this as a technical collaboration rather than simply a capacity sale,” says Olawale Owoeye, Managing Director and CEO of Cedarview Communications and Ciudad Infrastructure.

“They have worked with our engineers to understand the network we have today, where we want to expand and what the architecture must support. That includes aggregating capacity, improving BGP design and building stronger redundancy between locations.”

Border Gateway Protocol, or BGP, is the system networks use to exchange routing information and determine which paths internet traffic should follow. For an ISP with multiple points of presence and infrastructure providers, BGP design has a direct effect on performance, failover and capacity utilisation.

When a primary connection fails, traffic should move to another route with minimal disruption. That requires more than a secondary link: advertised routes, routing policies and backup capacity must all be aligned.

Workonline is helping OneData examine these dependencies as part of the redesign. The process is intended to reduce reliance on individual connections, improve traffic management and create a platform for adding capacity and new locations.

It also positions resilience as part of routing policy and capacity planning rather than as a separate backup arrangement.

Workonline is also supporting OneData’s application for a new block of IP addresses. As the ISP connects more customers, devices and services, address resources and address management become a larger part of its growth planning.

OneData remains focused on Nigeria, where it serves homes, businesses, educational institutions and communities. The wider group is also developing relationships and expansion plans in South Africa, Rwanda, Kenya and Morocco.

Owoeye says the company’s growth plans are tied to connectivity models that can reach underserved communities.

OneData grew out of Cedarview Communications, which began as a systems integrator before moving into telecommunications and infrastructure services. Its ISP operations launched in 2018 with a focus on affordable, reliable internet access and the stated ambition to help “connect the last African”.

“Connectivity is not only about giving people access to the internet,” says Owoeye. “It is about what becomes possible once they are connected. It gives students access to education, helps entrepreneurs reach new markets and allows young people to participate in opportunities beyond their immediate communities.”

The company has worked with Nigerian universities to improve campus connectivity, including a project that increased available internet capacity to 1Gbps while reducing costs, and has supported fibre infrastructure as well as digital and entrepreneurial hubs in higher education.

In Kano, OneData has introduced a daily unlimited internet service for 200 naira, aimed at traders and salespeople who rely on connectivity but may not be able to commit to a monthly broadband contract.

The company has also supported digital skills development through programmes associated with Nigeria’s National Youth Service Corps, built around the principles of educating, empowering and enabling young people.

For OneData’s customers, the changes are likely to be felt rather than seen. Students need lecture streams to remain stable, traders need transactions to go through and businesses expect applications to continue responding if a connection fails. Those outcomes depend on the network design behind the service.

By aggregating capacity, improving route management and building redundancy across its points of presence, OneData is moving from multiple connectivity options to a more coordinated network architecture.

The engagement with Workonline is therefore not only about expanding bandwidth. It is about enabling the ISP to use capacity more efficiently, recover from disruption and extend its network with less operational complexity.

For OneData, that stronger foundation is expected to support further connectivity growth in Nigeria and, potentially, in other African markets.