According to the firm, Raxio Tanzania will be the country’s first carrier neutral, Tier III data centre and is planned to be a multi-megawatt data centre – and Raxio said, the first state-of-the-art, carrier neutral, Tier III data centre in Tanzania.
Set to be commissioned in 2023, Raxio Tanzania will be the sixth data centre in Raxio’s Africa portfolio.
Robert Mullins, CEO of Raxio Group, said: Our decision to build Tanzania’s first Tier III carrier neutral facility highlights our commitment to our strategy to deliver the vital digital infrastructure needed on the African continent.
"With new connectivity solutions arriving and the rapid evolution of the digital ecosystem in the region, we will continue to build larger, hyper-scale ready facilities across a wider geographic footprint to meet the demand. As the second largest telecoms market in East Africa, with growing demand for connectivity and related services and its strategic location, Tanzania becomes an important centrepiece of our growing portfolio."
Speaking to Capacity last year, Mullins defined the "metro edge" model as "allowing for the exchange of traffic in facilities located close to urban centres with hybrid multi-cloud architectures".
Although names were not shared in the initial announcement, Raxio did say it would call on "carefully selected international and local contractors", for the work. Other details were also light on the ground, but the proposition is for an optimised, state-of-the-art facility with industry-leading technology solutions inside.
Mullins added: "As with all our facilities, Raxio Tanzania is being developed in full alignment with our ESG goals, driving a positive impact through both direct and indirect creation of highly skilled jobs for Tanzanian professionals, and a facility that is built and operated to the highest international environmental standards.”
There was no specific mention of how Raxio would minimise energy or its use of water for cooling at Raxio Tanzania, but its parent company Meridiam does state on its website that the average PUE of Raxio facilities is 1.3-1.35, "which benchmarks well not only for Africa but also globally". Further, Meridiam said last March that with its support "Raxio will also start in developing a low-carbon development charter and associated process in coming months".
That said, an Emergency Plan of Action issued was by the International Federation of the Red Cross in January regarding ongoing drought in Tanzania due to ongoing livestock deaths in the country.
