Seacom now offers colocation and IP transit services via the JN1 International Business Exchange (IBX) data centre owned and operated by Equinix in Johannesburg.
The new data centre, which came into service in July 2024 and was officially opened on 23 October, offers secure, neutral colocation and interconnection services for enterprise customers, as well as serves as a continental hub for the US-based data centre and colocation provider.
“Though we have enjoyed a longstanding working relationship with Equinix over the years, this is the first time we will be offering colocation services using Equinix infrastructure,” says Santosh Naraidoo, colocation product manager at Seacom. “This is a very exciting time as South Africa’s colocation landscape is shifting, with more and more highly connected data centers such as Equinix as well as vendors and hyperscalers entering the market and expanding the hosting capabilities of the region.”
Under an agreement with Equinix, Seacom offers colocation services for enterprise customers, providing an operating environment for IT infrastructure featuring reliable power supply and cooling solutions, multiple layers of integrated security, and industry-leading service-level agreements (SLAs) that guarantee system uptime and resilience.
In addition, Seacom will offer IP transit and scalable bandwidth services of up to 4Gbps from South Africa to Lisbon, Portugal, delivering low-latency Internet connectivity and connecting customers to Europe and other points of presence (POPs) around the world.
“By offering transit services with Equinix, we are increasing the number of transit options and vendors that our customers can choose to work with. The new service offering also aligns with the growing need for cloud computing and cloud-based services across the region, as more businesses start to leverage the power of these environments,” Naraidoo explains.
Naraidoo notes that Africa’s growing ecosystem of subsea Internet cables and terrestrial infrastructure is resulting in data centres playing a role in the continent’s digital transformation and increasing its capacity to host data and enterprise networks. “National challenges such as load shedding have also had a profound impact on the demand for colocation.
“Many businesses now see the value of taking their systems off-site and moving them to facilities that are built to secure and protect critical systems and resources,” he adds.