Teraco Completes New JB4 Data Center in Johannesburg
Data center operator, Teraco, which is owned by Digital Realty, announced on Wednesday that the first phase of JB4, the most recent addition to its “hyperscale” facility at Bredell on Johannesburg’s East Rand, has been completed. 30 000 sq/m of building structure, 8 000/sq m of data hall space, and 19 MW of critical power load make up JB4’s initial phase.
A “diverse ecosystem of network operators” connects JB4 to all of the other Teraco data centers. Teraco’s ongoing investment is logically aimed at the wider Johannesburg metropole. The Teraco Isando campus connectivity hub, located about 20 kilometers to the west of the plant, is reachable by a number of fiber paths. Eight 1000 square meter halls are part of Phase 1. It was constructed to meet the needs of the worldwide hyperscale industry and international compliance standards.
Teraco said it has now secured adjacent land and power for phase 2 of the project, which will bring the total critical power load in the facility to 50MW across the sprawling Bredell site.
“As one of Africa’s economic powerhouses, Gauteng (specifically, the greater Johannesburg metropole) is a logical destination for Teraco’s continued investment in data centre infrastructure on the continent,” the company said in a statement.
“Home to digitally connected enterprises, including telecommunications, financial services, e-commerce, logistics and retail, the Johannesburg metropole benefits from its enviable location in the heart of Southern Africa, which has led to it becoming the hub for connectivity and peering.”
Teraco’s platform now has a total critical power load capacity of 126MW across its sites in Isando (JB1/JB3; 40MW), Bredell (JB2/JB4; 64MW), Cape Town (CT1/CT2; 21MW), and Durban as a result of the JB4 addition.
The completion comes after the acquisition of Teraco by US-based Digital Realty in August this year. At the time, William A. Stein, Chief Executive Officer of Digital Realty, delightfully noted that the achievement would increase the company’s capacity to meet the region’s expanding consumer demand.
According to Teraco CEO Jan Hnizdo, the company was experiencing “substantial growth” as hyperscale requirements due to rising demand for cloud services in Africa.
“The continued increase of cloud adoption in Africa is also being enabled by investments in critical infrastructure, including hyperscale data centre facilities such as JB4. This will enable global cloud clients to service the South African market and the rest of the sub-Saharan African region,” he said