RACK CENTRE: THE DATA CENTRE GIANT GROWING A DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM ON THE LAGOS MAINLAND
In the dynamic digital landscape of Africa, Rack Centre stands out as the sole carrier and cloud-neutral Tier III Constructed Facility Certified data centre in West Africa.
Situated in Nigeria, the company is dedicated to delivering top-notch data centre colocation services and fostering unlimited internet exchange interconnection and peering between carriers and customers.
Nigeria serves as a pivotal entry point for global telecommunications, content, and cloud players, boasting approximately 85 million Internet subscribers, surpassing any other country in the region or Europe.
Interconnection metrics in Nigeria indicate significant growth in connectivity. As of 2023, there are 250 licensed ISPs registered, with about 60% inactive or located outside Lagos. Interestingly, 65 networks are fully operational from Rack Centre, with 30 providing dark fibre or wave capacity.
Despite the highly competitive and capital-intensive nature of the data centre market, Rack Centre has cultivated a culture of operational excellence through solution-driven strategies. These strategies address challenges such as its location on the Lagos Mainland and effectively manage fibre cuts.
Notably, Rack Centre has maintained zero downtime in ten years, a remarkable achievement considering Nigeria’s business environment characterized by unreliable power supply and infrastructure deficiencies.
Currently, Rack Centre is expanding its data centre campus with the construction of the LGS 2 data centre, boasting an IT power of 12MW. This expansion demonstrates the company’s commitment to enhancing Nigeria’s digital landscape and increasing its capacity to provide carrier-neutral access to various network service providers and cable landing stations in Lagos State.
One of Rack Centre’s key strategies is its strategic location on the Lagos Mainland, which offers advantages such as elevation above sea level, ensuring resilience against flooding. Additionally, the location provides proximity to transportation hubs and fire service stations, enhancing accessibility for customers.
To address challenges such as fibre cuts, Rack Centre employs diverse fibre routes to promote redundancy and ensure uninterrupted operations. These routes include Eko Bridge, 3rd Mainland Bridge, Carter Bridge, Ikorodu into Epe to Lagos, Sagamu, Ijebu-Ode, Epe to Lagos.
Furthermore, Rack Centre embraces new metro fibre deployments between cable landing stations, facilitating direct connectivity and enhancing redundancy.
Moreover, Rack Centre is exploring new solutions, such as direct metro fibre deployment between cable landing stations, to bolster connectivity. As a carrier-neutral data centre, it also enables subsea cable partners to terminate at its facility, fostering more connectivity and bringing partners closer to their customers and business associates.
The presence of leading connectivity solutions providers at Rack Centre underscores its operational excellence and highlights the vast opportunities within Nigeria’s thriving digital market.
The ongoing construction of the LGS 2 campus data centre further underscores Rack Centre’s commitment to providing ample capacity for various businesses, institutions, and providers to thrive in the Nigerian digital ecosystem.
As the first IFC Edge Green building-certified data centre campus in the EMEA region, Rack Centre is dedicated to propelling Nigeria’s economy forward and optimizing the digital ecosystem in Africa.
The completion of the LGS 2 campus data centre will ensure Africa has sufficient capacity to accommodate enterprise businesses, small and corporate businesses, Telco & Carriers, financial institutions, international cloud and content providers, and hyperscalers, thereby reducing latency and enhancing digital experiences for all stakeholders.
Source: Techeconomy
