Paratus Namibia Announces Launch of Armada Datacentre
Africa is a desirable location for large cloud operators because to the region’s growing demand from banks and telecoms for quicker processing. Africa has seen an increase in Cloud’s footprint during the last two years. To meet anticipated increasing demands as businesses migrate to the cloud and go through digital transformation, a number of top data center operators have made large investments in expansive buildouts.
Recent big financial injections into the South African data center market are a result of multiple major firms announcing plans to build new facilities. Microsoft opened the first data centers in South Africa, and Amazon and Huawei soon after.
The first carrier-neutral data center for Namibia will open in Windhoek, according to Paratus Namibia. The data center, dubbed Armada, is anticipated to start operations in August.
Any client hosting at the facility will be able to select the telecoms provider from which they want to buy services thanks to the data center.
Paratus Namibia’s announcement continues the cloud frenzy in Africa; after Vantage Data Centres announced the construction of a Hyperscale data center in South Africa this week.
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Schalk Erasmus, CEO Designate, Paratus Group and CEO of the data center announcement, said that the facility will give Namibian companies the chance to participate in the fourth industrial revolution (4IR). Erasmus also noted that the group had made significant investments and hired the best designers and engineers to make Armada the most secure, eco-friendly, and effective facility in South Africa.
“With 99.98% uptime, backed by the most sophisticated technologies – including multiple solar banks – [the data centre] provides unique assurances. The resilience we offer at Armada is unmatched in Namibia. We have invested heavily and have appointed the best designers and engineers to make Armada the most secure, environmentally friendly, and efficient facility in the country,” said Erasmus.
Insights on Armada from Paratus Namibia
The data center, according to Paratus, will provide businesses colocation services with a resilient infrastructure environment where clients may store their equipment, reducing the capital expenditure and operating costs related to on-premises hosting and maintenance.
The Armada facility will have a number of important features, such as a direct connection to the brand-new Equiano cable in Swakopmund, a 2-Megawatt Power Capacity, and connectivity to Paratus’ backbone network, which connects global clients to the other Paratus data centers in Angola and Zambia.
Paratus Namibia had invested $123 million into the new facility to make it the largest DC facility in Namibia. The newly constructed facility, located on the Brakwater Campus, has two distinct colocation data halls (DC1 and DC2) that are each backed by two distinct energy center pairs.
Schalk Erasmus stated that businesses have recognized that technological development, in the form of big data, cloud services, and AI (artificial intelligence), is essential for their future success. And this is what Armada will offer. He noted that the facility will provide computer systems, store and safeguard client data around-the-clock, provide backup power generation, and give a variety of add-on services and features.
“Our customers understand that technological advancement, in the form of big data, cloud services and AI (artificial intelligence), is critical for their future success. They need an independent, secure, and highly sophisticated DC facility. The Paratus Armada DC will store and protect client data 24/7; house and physically protect all equipment and computer systems; handle the migration from off-site to the datacentre; provide back-up power generation; and offer an array of add-on services and features,” said Erasmus.