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First phase of DiData data centre project on track for April 2022

Sibahle Malinga
By Sibahle Malinga, ITWeb senior news journalist.
Johannesburg, 11 Dec 2020

Systems integrator Dimension Data says it has set a target to complete the first phase of its R875 million data centre project, run in partnership with its parent company NTT, by the end of the first quarter of 2022.

Dimension Data, which already operates 11 data centres with up to 10MW of IT load across Africa, announced in September that is was preparing to launch a new data centre region in Johannesburg, as it looked to expand its infrastructure across the continent, amid an increased demand for data centre capability across the continent.

The new Johannesburg 1 Data Centre, currently under construction, will be constructed in two phases, according to the company.

During the SA Investment Conference 2020 held at the Sandton Convention Centre last month, Dimension Data, together with global technology services provider NTT, committed R875 million to the expansion of the project.

Saki Missaikos, chief strategy officer at Dimension Data, told ITWeb that construction works for the Johannesburg 1 Data Centre are well under way and the initial phase is set to be up and running by the first quarter.

“The first phase of the data centre project will be completed between March and April 2022, and the second phase will be complete a year later. Through this project, Africa’s digital transformation will be accelerated with the right infrastructure investments.

“This partnership, bolstering our already significant data centre footprint, comes at a time when demand for digital content, cloud services, new technologies such as Internet of things, mobile money and content delivery networks are on the rise in SA and Africa. This will enable the world to go more digital, and organisations to leverage and take advantage of emerging technologies,” explains Missaikos.

Johannesburg 1 Data Centre is located in the ‘Central Point Innovation District’ in Johannesburg. The site is in close proximity to the airport and city centre, and will offer diverse fibre connectivity, fully redundant power supply and cooling infrastructure, notes Dimension Data.

“The data centre design is based on tier three standards and when fully built, it will deliver a total of 6 000sqm of IT space and 12MW of IT load. It will be a highly secure, energy-efficient data centre offering maximum protection for our clients’ critical and sensitive IT systems. The site includes plans to host an NTT technology experience lab for clients and partners to test and validate cutting-edge technology solutions and IT deployments in a live data centre environment,” adds Missaikos.

Dimension Data has over 800 clients across MEA.

While Missaikos was not in a position to provide a breakdown of the R875 million investment, he noted the expansion in Johannesburg is part of the growth strategy of the Global Data Centres division of NTT, which operates one of the largest data centre platforms in the world.

With over 160 data centres spanning more than 20 countries, NTT Group’s clients and partners have access to a digital ecosystem with global reach and local expertise.

Dimension Data’s data centre plans come amid a flurry of activity in the South African market, where cloud providers, including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Huawei, have been setting up data centre regions to offer cloud services to SA and the African region.

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