For the project ADC has secured a piece of land adjacent to its existing data centre in Nairobi, Kenya, and the build will be completed in the first half of 2024 delivering five times more than the current capacity.
"Colocation has become the foundation of African digital transformation and will be for the foreseeable future," said Hardy Pemhiwa, group president & CEO of Cassava Technologies.
"Our investment into expanding our data centre operations in Kenya is in line with the increasing demand that we are experiencing due to the significant increase in the adoption of digital services in the East African region".
The first phase of the data centre will deliver 5MW of IT load and built in line with the company's edge modular design, which sees the entire facility, including all critical plant rooms, prefabricated off-site. Local contractors will be used to lay foundations, assemble, and complete the build.
"We do not use water in any of our cooling systems and are one of the few colocation providers who have taken this step," added Tesh Durvasula, CEO of Africa Data Centres.
"Although many believe water and adiabatic systems are more efficient than air cooling systems, this is not the case. With the newest technology, if free-cooling capacity is maximised, it becomes far more efficient and saves water which is becoming a scarce commodity."
Additionally, the expansion will allow ADC customers to grow and scale according to their requirements, spanning small to medium capacity, with the option of hyperscale capacity over time, if required.
"This is very reassuring for customers, as it brings a lot of synergies by enabling them to operate multiple deployments across Africa Data Centres sites with a single operations team and a campus and infrastructure they are familiar with," added Durvasula.
Customers can also leverage the cloud and managed services within the ADC ecosystem and increased external network options through its connectivity partners.
In addition, the site will also benefit from enhanced sustainability as in Kenya nearly 70% of grid power is sourced from green energy.
