NTT and Dimension Data have announced that construction for their Johannesburg 1 Data Centre has commenced.

The data centre design is based on tier 3 standards and will be constructed in two phases, with the first phase scheduled to become operational beginning of 2022.

When fully built it will deliver a total of 6 000 sqare metres of IT space and 12MW of IT load.

Dimension Data already operates 11 data centres with up to 10MW of IT load across Africa. Together with the new Johannesburg 1 Data Centre, the NTT data centre platform in Africa will provide more than 20MW of IT load capacity.

The demand for capacity is driven by local and international clients’ strong need for robust colocation infrastructure across Africa, and will enable Dimension Data to meet the increasing requirements of its clients across the continent and Middle East.

The expansion in Johannesburg is part of the growth strategy of the Global Data Centers 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 and regions, NTT Group’s clients and partners have access to a powerful digital ecosystem with global reach and local expertise.

“The Johannesburg 1 Data Center will enable us to increase our capabilities and global capacity, to meet our international clients’ expanding needs for infrastructure across the African market”, said Florian Winkler, CEO of the Global Data Centres EMEA division of NTT.

Grant Bodley, CEO of Dimension Data, comment: “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.”

Johannesburg 1 Data Center will be located in the Central Point Innovation District in Johannesburg, in close proximity to the airport and city centre.

With diverse fibre connectivity, fully redundant power supply and cooling infrastructure, the data centre will be secure and energy-efficient.

The site includes plans to host an NTT Technology Experience Lab (TEL) for clients and partners to test and validate technology solutions and IT deployments in a live data centre environment.