AFRICA’S LARGEST TO DATE

Teraco Data Environments Ltd., has just commenced the construction of a new hyperscale data center JB4 in Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, South Africa.

JBA is Teraco’s seventh data center and designed to offer up to 38MW of critical power capacity with expectations of becoming the largest stand-alone data center in Africa to date. The facility also marks Teraco’s latest expansion, bringing the company’s total critical power capacity to about 110MW, that includes its 39MW Isando campus having JB1 and JB3, 13MW Bredell facility JB2, Rondebosch Cape Town 3MW data center CT1, Brackenfell Cape Town CT2 offering 18MW and 1MW Durban facility.

“South Africa is strategically located at the tip of the African continent and as a result, is positioned as a technology and data center hub for sub-Saharan Africa. This is further underpinned by growing undersea and terrestrial fiber connectivity to the rest of Africa,” said Jan Hnizdo, CEO of Teraco.

“The continued increase of cloud adoption in Africa is also being enabled by investments in critical infrastructure, including hyperscale data center facilities such as JB4. This will enable global cloud clients to service not only the South African market but reach the rest of the sub-Saharan African region as well.”

According to Teraco, JB4 will establish connections to a wide choice of network service providers, peering at NAPAfrica, regional IXPs, content delivery networks and cloud provider on-ramps. The company aims this expansion at further supporting sub-Saharan enterprises with advancing their digital transformation strategies, as well as enabling global cloud providers to expand their footprints in the African region.

The new hyperscale data center structure is to span 50,000 square meters and serviced by 80MW of utility power supply. The first phase of the facility will feature 19MW of critical power capacity over 8 halls with 1000 square meter space each. The second phase will then bring the facility to a completion, having a total of 38MW.

As announced, JB4 is scheduled for completion in Q1 2022, and will have multiple fiber paths to the Teraco Isando campus sited about 20 kilometers away.