Africa Data Centres is expanding its CPT1 facility in Cape Town, adding three halls in new areas on the campus that provide another 6MW of IT load. This effectively doubles the data centre’s current capacity.
The new expansion was implemented with support from the US through an up to $300-million loan from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).
Hardy Pemhiwa, president and group CEO of ADC’s holding company the Cassava Technologies Group, comments: “This expansion by Africa Data Centres is in response to the increasing demand for co-location capacity in South Africa. Not only is Cape Town the second largest economy in South Africa, but it is also the de facto software and technology hub in Southern Africa.”
The company is seeing tremendous growth in the data centre market in South Africa generally, as both national and international cloud and IT service providers seek to expand their footprints in the region.
In terms of size, the expansion adds 1000 racks of white space or the space available for customers to lease, although the physical site is significantly larger than that. It is made up of two more colocation data halls and one hyperscale hall.
The additional halls are built in the modular design pioneered by Africa Data Centres, which enables rapid scalability and a modern design that allows the facility to be populated as and when required to suit the needs of the customer.
Pemhiwa says this would not have been possible without the support of the Ministry of ICT, Western Cape Provincial Government and the Western Cape Department of Economic Development. “I would like to acknowledge their ongoing support, as we expand our data centre facilities in South Africa.”
The new halls feature the same cutting-edge security standards and focus on the elements that matter most to clients, including scalability, flexibility, and energy efficiency, to bring world-class, affordable solutions to all its clients in the area. This data centre is highly flexible and designed to accommodate different and evolving customer demands.
Additionally, this data centre boasts hybrid cooling technology capable of handling both air cooling and liquid cooling. Despite its versatility, no compromises were made on efficiency. It is one of the most efficient and sustainable data centres in South Africa. It is powered by renewable energy, boasts a Water Usage Effectiveness of 0 due to no water consumption for the IT infrastructure, and has an impressive Power Usage Effectiveness rating as well.
The Africa Data Centres’ CPT1 facility uses wheeled solar power in the market, enabled through a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) signed in March last year with Distributed Power Africa. Africa Data Centres is the first company to successfully implement this groundbreaking technology in Africa, marking it the continent’s first project of its kind.
“The introduction of wheeled solar power at the CPT1 facility offers significant benefits to our’ customers, providing a truly sustainable data centre solution. As the demand for data continues to skyrocket across Africa, a continent where power supply is often intermittent, the need for reliable, cost-effective, and green power has never been more critical,” says Finhai Munzara, interim CEO of ADC.
By harnessing renewable energy, he says the CPT1 facility not only ensures consistent power supply but also supports sustainable operations, helping customers achieve their environmental goals. “Our state-of-the-art facility reduces reliance on non-renewable energy sources, setting a new standard for sustainability in the data centre industry.”
Munzara adds that Cape Town is an excellent location for colocation facilities as it is a stone’s throw away from all the submarine cable landing stations. In addition, the Cape Town facility houses the Cape Town Internet Exchange (CINX), which makes multi-region peering more accessible, efficient, and easy to manage. This also facilitates direct connections between networks, enabling data to flow more efficiently and reducing latency, giving our users a faster, more responsive online experience.