Why colocation – in Africa ?

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All companies – large and small – have IT requirements.  Especially today in the age of big data where everything is connected and all functions are automated and digitised and need to be online.  Those enterprises that are large enough – such as banks, MNC’s, Telco’s, mining houses have been able to afford to build their own data centres to house their IT infrastructure.   Others like SME’s which could not afford to (build their own DC’s) opted for a ‘server room’ or outsourced some of their requirements to a Cloud provider.

There are numerous challenges for all companies in respect of how they approach ensuring the reliable provision of IT capacity to run their businesses.   Some companies are not big enough to justify their own DC (scale) and there is a shortage of IT expertise (skill).   Often times those that have the scale to build their own DC’s  then run foul of not having the requisite skills to run them. 

This is particularly the case in Africa where IT skills are in short supply.   Indeed the management of the IT infrastructure requires a different set of skills from those required for managing the IT systems.   These relate to the ‘infrastructure’ type operations including security, power management, cooling and other ‘real-estate’ related activities.

Such infrastructure is actually best provided by a carrier neutral data centre operator thereby freeing up the enterprise to focus on its own IT requirements.  One of the consequences of managing the infrastructure in-house is a reduction in the life span, reliability and availability of the IT equipment – even when it is highly spec’d.  This is often due to poor power backup architecture and inadequate cooling capacity.   Indeed lower specified equipment may have a longer life, as well as operate more reliably, in a high quality physical environment (i.e. colocation data centre) than more expensive, better engineered equipment will do in a lower quality environment (in-house).   Using colocation allows the enterprise to focus on spending its capex budget on good IT equipment and save on infrastructure.  Colocation also delivers the benefits of scale as multiple enterprises (large and small) share the infrastructure. 

A colocation data centre delivers manifold benefits:

  • Economies of scale
  • Increased power redundancy  – hence higher availability
  • Better cooling technology
  • Connectivity to multiple carriers  
  • Better physical security
  • Specialist expertise
  • Reduced and more predictable costs (Opex vs Capex)
  • Increased life of IT equipment
  • Regulatory compliance (e.g. disaster recovery)
  • Reduced staff requirements

These are benefits that African businesses, large and small, can derive if they go down the colocation route.   Oh and did I mention Cloud .......?

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