That is a 36% year‑on‑year increase from 2025, making this one of the fastest capital expenditure (CapEx) booms in modern corporate history. 

So, let’s discuss. Is this exceptional AI CapEx surge cycle driving productivity in the economy, or are we inflating another technological asset bubble?

The AI CapEx Scale: What’s Happening Now

Across the largest tech firms, the hyperscalers and cloud giants, capital spending is now structural. Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft are expected to put hundreds of billions into new infrastructure in 2026, much of it dedicated to specialised computing clusters, advanced networking and data centre capacity. 

The focal point of this spending is not mere servers or office upgrades. It’s data centres built specifically for high‑power compute workloads, facilities optimised for parallel processing at scale. 

These require specialised hardware like GPUs and high‑bandwidth memory, and they draw massive amounts of energy. 

One recent example shows just how strategic these moves have become. Nebius Group signed a multi‑year deal with Meta Platforms worth up to $27 billion to supply dedicated AI computing capacity by 2027, a contract driven by extreme demand and limited supply for high‑performance computing systems. 

Productivity: What the Investment Could Bring

No doubt that enhanced computing capacity enables economic value. Faster processing, more reliable inference workloads, and greater cloud availability can drive:

• Higher labour productivity by automating routine tasks.
• Faster research and development cycles in sectors from healthcare to manufacturing.
• Lower costs for compute‑intensive services, once infrastructure matures and utilisation improves.

For context, the semiconductor industry, a cornerstone of this infrastructure build‑out, is forecast to approach nearly $1 trillion in sales in 2026, with AI‑specific chips maintaining strong annual growth. 

From a macro perspective, such CapEx adds directly to aggregate demand and GDP in the short term. Data centre construction, advanced chip manufacturing, and supporting supply chains all contribute to economic activity that wouldn’t exist without this cycle. 

Bubble Territory: Where the Risks Begin

But there are strong arguments that we are edging into asset inflation rather than productive investment.

First, the pace of spending vastly outstrips current revenue realisation in the economy. Many of these specialised facilities operate at negative operating margins early in their life, requiring ongoing funding before they generate sustainable returns.

Second, a lot of the valuations attached to tech infrastructure assets incorporate lofty future earnings expectations. If those earnings don’t materialise, because adoption slows or competition increases, we could face rapid repricing. 

We’ve already seen some tension in the market, with certain historic investment commitments being scaled back. 

Third, hyperscalers are relying more on external financing even as their own cash flows get tighter. That’s a classic hallmark of an investment boom that may not be fully backed by near‑term productive returns. 

Semiconductors and Data Centres: The New “Oil”?

The analogy of compute as “the new oil” captures two truths:

1. Dependency: Modern AI workloads require massive compute capacity, just as 20th‑century industry relied on petroleum.
2. Infrastructure bottlenecks: Scaling compute, even with unlimited capital, is limited by semiconductor supply, power delivery, and cooling technology.

Already, suppliers like TSMC have posted strong revenue outlooks, showing reliance on advanced chips across the industry.

In parallel, smaller specialist data centre operators, such as CoreWeave, have expanded at a rapid clip. CoreWeave now operates dozens of facilities globally and has become a major supplier for bespoke compute capacity. 

But then, this infrastructure is expensive and energy‑intensive. Many facilities find it hard to break even without long‑term contracts or guaranteed utilisation.

Investment Implications: Winners and Fragilities

From an investment standpoint, certain firms appear ready to benefit if demand holds:

• Nvidia is at the centre of the compute supply chain. Its recent San Jose GTC 2026 forecast shows at least $1 trillion in chip revenue by 2027, driven by demand for next‑generation chips at scale. 
• Other chip designers and foundries stand to gain from backlogged orders and long production lead‑times.
• Data centre REITs and infrastructure funds may see longer‑term cash returns as contracts mature.

On the risk side, overcapacity, falling prices for older hardware, and slower adoption outside of hyperscale use cases are still substantive challenges.

So, Growth Engine or Asset Bubble?

Standing here in March 2026, we see both sides.

On the productivity side, this spending wave is building infrastructure that will underpin major advances in how industries operate. It’s tangible investment in capacity, not just speculation in intangible assets.

On the asset inflation side, the pace and scale of spending go beyond today’s revenue reality. Markets have priced future growth aggressively, which increases the risk of repricing if adoption deviates from expectations.

Now, are we financing a foundation for long‑term productivity, or are we inflating the price of future earnings prematurely?

The post AI CapEx Surge: Sustainable Growth or Bubble Territory? appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

This position was articulated by Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, director-general of the National Information Technology Development Agency, during his virtual address at the InnovateAI Conference in Lagos.

The conference convened policymakers, tech industry leaders, innovators, and other key stakeholders to examine the future of artificial intelligence and its potential to accelerate Nigeria’s digital economy and broader national development objectives.

Inuwa emphasized that Nigeria’s goal, under the National AI Strategy, is to move beyond adopting foreign-built AI solutions to building and owning systems that align with the country’s values, development priorities, and socio-economic realities.

“Our goal is not just to use AI, but to architect and build our own AI systems in Nigeria,” he said, stressing that the country must take ownership of its AI future.

He noted that Nigeria’s approach to artificial intelligence extends beyond innovation to include governance, infrastructure, data sovereignty, and policy evolution.

According to him,

“Responsible AI is never a finished job; it is an iterative journey. Our policies must evolve as the technology evolves, and we must avoid frozen laws by adopting living policies that adapt over time.”

He cited the implementation of the Digital Economy and E-Governance Bill as a key mechanism for generating insights that will help refine AI regulations and governance frameworks.

Inuwa also highlighted the challenge of data representation in global AI systems, noting that most models are trained on non-African datasets, which often results in bias against local dialects, cultures, and demographics.

“If a model shows bias against a local dialect or demographic, we cannot just patch it. We must reinvest in infrastructure to retrain it with inclusive and representative local datasets,” he stated.

He added that building national AI infrastructure is critical to achieving data sovereignty and ensuring that Nigeria is not merely an end user of foreign AI systems.

He further called for strategic partnerships with global technology companies and hyperscalers to build AI infrastructure in Nigeria while aligning with local values and national priorities.

“The world today is a global village. We need to work with global players, but they must understand our local nuances and help us build the infrastructure to retrain and develop AI models that reflect our context,” he said.

The NITDA Director General explained that adopting a comprehensive AI lifecycle approach, from responsible data collection and governance to deployment and continuous feedback, will enable Nigeria to move from reacting to AI developments to proactively designing indigenous AI systems.

“Without understanding how AI models are trained, how decisions are made, and how models are retrained, it will be difficult to build a responsible and trustworthy AI system,” he warned.

He reaffirmed that the Federal Government is intentional about promoting responsible AI and is working closely with the technology ecosystem to co-design national AI guardrails.

He described platforms such as the InnovateAI Conference and other national AI dialogues as critical to shaping Nigeria’s AI future.

The post InnovateAI Conference: NITDA DG Says Nigeria Building Sovereign AI Ecosystem appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

That contrast was revealed in a new report, which shows the continent is building fast, but still lagging.

The study, Data Centres in Africa 2026, says Africa’s total installed capacity is expected to triple to about 1.2 gigawatts (GW) of IT load by 2030.

But then, this growth will track global expansion rather than close the gap. The United States alone hosts about 45% of the world’s data centres.

Globally, the data centre market was valued at $243 billion in 2025 and is projected to double by 2032.

Artificial intelligence is a primary driver. McKinsey estimates AI training and inference could triple global demand for data centre capacity by 2030, with 70% of new demand linked to AI workloads.

In comparison, Africa’s footprint is small. The continent has between 220 and 230 facilities spread across 38 countries.

Capacity is concentrated in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Egypt. Most African data is still stored abroad, mainly in Europe and North America.

That reliance brings the risks. Data hosted overseas falls under foreign laws. The report points to the U.S. CLOUD Act, which allows American authorities to compel companies under U.S. jurisdiction to hand over data, regardless of where it is physically stored.

This leaves governments and businesses in Africa asking who really controls their data and whether they truly have authority over it.

More than 40 African countries have enacted data protection laws, and 19 have ratified the Malabo Convention on cybersecurity and data protection.

However, enforcement capacity usually lags behind legislation. Investors now see regulatory clarity as an important factor in deciding where to build.

Dr Ayotunde Coker, CEO of Open Access Data Centres, said: “Africa’s path to data sovereignty depends on building local processing power, sustainable energy use, and AI capacity that reflects the continent’s own priorities and realities.”

AI is changing the direction. In April 2025, African states adopted the Africa Declaration on Artificial Intelligence in Kigali.

The declaration commits $60 billion towards continental AI ambitions and led to the creation of an Africa AI Council made up of seven ICT ministers and eight independent members.

So far, 15 African countries have adopted a national AI strategy or policy. Still, infrastructure is not satisfactory.

According to the report, outside South Africa, only about one-third of built data centre capacity is fully utilised. Even in South Africa, 74% of capacity is fitted out and in use.

Operators say they are building ahead of demand, planning on 10- to 20-year horizons.

The demand side is still uneven. While 47% of Africans are mobile subscribers, only 28% use mobile internet.

In some low-income countries, internet access can take up to 26.4% of average monthly income. The physical coverage gap has narrowed to 9%, but the usage gap stands at 64%.

At the same time, data consumption per smartphone in sub-Saharan Africa averages about 6.7GB per month, far below the global average of 21.6GB.

The International Finance Corporation estimates that doubling undersea cable capacity could cut bandwidth prices by 30 to 50%. Even moderate price drops could push usage steeply higher.

Connectivity is expanding. Africa’s terrestrial fibre network reached about 1.3 million kilometres in 2025, up from 1 million kilometres in 2019.

The World Bank approved $500 million in late 2025 to deploy a further 90,000 kilometres of fibre. Egypt now connects to more than 19 subsea cable systems, Djibouti to 12, and South Africa to 11.

However, access to computing power is limited. Latency from African users to major cloud regions abroad usually exceeds 70 to 100 milliseconds, compared with less than 20 milliseconds in mature markets.

Where local cloud regions exist, such as in South Africa, median latency falls to between 35 and 45 milliseconds.

The report describes this as a “compute divide”. It argues that competitiveness will depend more on where computing capacity sits and how close it is to users, not just connectivity,

Investment is flowing in response. Hyperscalers and technology investors are estimated to have committed between $2.5 billion and $4 billion to African data centres in recent years.

Development finance institutions have put in an estimated $1.5 billion to $2 billion since 2016. Commercial banks, private equity firms and sovereign investors have also stepped up.

Private equity-backed platforms such as Raxio and Actis-backed Digital Realty have pursued regional expansion. Telecom-linked operators including Africa Data Centres, Nxtra by Airtel and STELLARIX are carving out carrier-neutral facilities while leveraging existing fibre networks.

Governments are building national facilities as well. Nigeria’s Galaxy Backbone, Ghana’s National Data Centre, Rwanda’s National Data Centre and state-backed projects in Ethiopia and Togo aim to anchor government cloud services and sensitive public data locally.

The economics are demanding, with building a standard Tier III facility globally now costing about $11.3 million per megawatt.

For AI-ready sites, tenant fit-out costs alone can reach $15 million to $25 million per megawatt. In Africa, operators face additional expenses linked to power back-up systems and imported equipment, with generators sometimes taking up to 18 months to deliver.

Occupancy can also take time. The report says it may take up to eight years for a new African data centre to reach 85% occupancy.

Yashnath Issur, CEO of Nxtra by Airtel Africa, said: “Developing large-scale infrastructure, such as a 40-MW data centre, fundamentally transforms the economic model of the industry.

“Beyond unlocking significant economies of scale in both construction and operations, this level of capacity also strengthens our position when negotiating long-term power purchase agreements. The result is greater cost predictability, improved energy security, and a more resilient foundation for sustainable growth.”

Talent is another pressure point, with Uptime Institute projecting the global industry will require 2.5 million full-time staff by the end of 2025.

In Africa, 39% of operators quote retention of skilled staff as their main human resources challenge. In Nigeria, that figure reaches 67%.

To respond, experts launched the Data Centre Talent Project for Africa in 2025. The three-month programme aims to enrol more than 100 engineering graduates in its pilot phase across Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa, with at least 30 job placements in the first cycle.

Despite the challenges, the report concludes that Africa’s digital economy could reach $1.5 trillion by 2030.

For that to happen, Africa data centre capacity will need to move from scarce infrastructure to becoming a reliable, local backbone for cloud services, AI and public systems.

The post Africa Holds Just 0.6% Global Data Centre Capacity as $60bn AI Drive Spurs 1.2GW Expansion by 2030 appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

The deal, which received a green light from South Africa’s Competition Commission on December 31, 2025, pushes OADC’s total operational capacity beyond the 25-megawatt (MW) mark.

The acquisition marks a significant pivot in the Southern African market: NTT DATA is divesting from asset-heavy physical infrastructure to focus on managed services, while OADC is doubling down on its “core-to-edge” strategy to support the continent’s booming cloud and AI workloads.

The ‘Sale and Leaseback’ Synergy

This isn’t just a change of ownership. Under a strategic agreement officially signed this week in Fourways, OADC will take over day-to-day operational management of the facilities, while NTT DATA remains the primary tenant, leasing the space back to serve its existing client base.

Operational Continuity: NTT DATA clients will experience no service interruptions; the transition is designed as a backend shift.

Geographic Diversity: The acquired facilities are strategically located across South Africa’s key economic hubs: Johannesburg (Bryanston & Parklands), Cape Town, Durban (Umhlanga), Bloemfontein, Gqeberha, and East London.

Strengthening the Pan-African ‘Digital Stack’

With a major presence already established in Nigeria (Lagos), the DRC (Kinshasa), and South Africa, OADC is positioning itself as the go-to partner for disaster recovery and primary colocation.

“We can provide clients with geographically separated primary and disaster recovery data centre infrastructure for their businesses,” said Dr. Ayotunde Coker, CEO of OADC. “This strengthens our market value proposition, positioning OADC as a critical partner in growing Africa’s digital economy.”

OADC’s Capacity Surge (Post-Acquisition)

Metric	Pre-Acquisition	Post-Acquisition (2026)	Growth Impact
National Footprint (SA)	~4 Hyperscale + 30 Edge	41+ Facilities	High-Density Coverage
Total Power Capacity	~15MW	25MW+	66% Capacity Increase
Key Service Hubs	Lagos, Kinshasa, JHB	Add: Bloemfontein, Gqeberha	Continental Leadership

Consolidation is the New Growth

The African data centre market is projected to reach $6.8 billion by 2030. As hyperscalers like Google and Microsoft increase their local cloud regions, “neutral” players like OADC are winning by providing the “white space” and power required to house these servers.

By acquiring NTT’s localized sites (previously operated by Internet Solutions), OADC isn’t just buying buildings; it’s buying interconnection.

Each of these seven sites represents a new “on-ramp” for African businesses to connect to the global digital economy with lower latency.

Notably, this deal excludes NTT’s Global Data Centre (Johannesburg 1), which NTT continues to operate independently.

The post OADC Hits 25MW Milestone with Strategic Acquisition of Seven NTT Data Centres in SA appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

This is the largest private investment ever recorded in the state, revealing an escalation in the global need for computing power.

The facility, known as MACROHARDRR, will span about 800,000 square feet and is scheduled to begin operations in February 2026. Governor Tate Reeves confirmed the investment, describing it as a big moment for Mississippi’s economy and its focus on high-end digital infrastructure.

xAI is scaling fast, and Southaven is important to that plan. The site will expand the company’s Colossus supercomputer cluster to almost 2 gigawatts of compute power, placing it in the same league as hyperscale systems operated by Google, Microsoft and Amazon.

The data centre is being developed from a former GXO logistics warehouse and sits close to xAI’s newly acquired power plant site in Southaven, as well as its existing data centre operations in Memphis, Tennessee. 

Memphis already hosts Colossus, which the company has described as the largest supercomputer cluster in the world. The Southaven build effectively extends that footprint across state lines.

Governor Reeves spoke about the scale of the deal, calling it “the largest economic development project in Mississippi’s history.” State officials say the investment will create hundreds of permanent jobs in DeSoto County and deliver long-term tax revenue to support education, healthcare and public safety.

Musk first disclosed the purchase of MACROHARDRR on December 30, noting that it would lift xAI’s total compute capacity to 2GW, though he did not reveal the location or cost at the time. Those details now underline how capital-heavy the push for advanced computing has become.

Demand for data centres surged last year as companies rushed to secure the hardware and power needed to train increasingly complex models.

Bloomberg reported that xAI spent $7.8 billion in cash in the first nine months of 2025 alone, a reminder that firms in this space burn through capital at an exceptional pace.

Globally, investment is growing. Industry forecasts put hyperscaler capital expenditure above $600 billion in 2026, up 36% from the previous year, with around three-quarters of that spending tied directly to advanced computing infrastructure. 

More than 770 future hyperscale facilities are already in the pipeline, and single campuses are now measured in gigawatts rather than megawatts.

Against that backdrop, the Mississippi Data Centre places xAI among the world’s biggest infrastructure builders.

The post xAI Commits $20bn to Mississippi Data Centre in Largest Private Investment in State History appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

On stage sat a powerhouse panel: Meta, Open Access Data Centres, Airtel Africa, Digital Realty, Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN), and TeleGeography, all with one mission: to unlock faster, more reliable content delivery for millions of Nigerians.

The session, aptly titled “Content at the Edge: Unlocking Faster and More Reliable Experiences”, followed a keynote by Meta’s Michelle Opiyo, who spotlighted the company’s growing edge infrastructure across Africa. From there, the discussion unraveled into an honest look at Nigeria’s unique challenges—and its immense opportunities.

Nigeria’s Demographic Advantage

Meta’s Ben Ryall painted the big picture: “Nigeria is Africa’s largest country by population, and its youth are hungry for content. The split between enterprise demand and young content-driven consumers is a goldmine for local CDNs and tailored strategies.”

The Bottlenecks: Pricing and Distribution

But the road isn’t smooth. IXPN’s Muhammed Rudman recalled early conversations with Netflix: “Back in 2007, they didn’t see the ROI. Today, subsea cables have brought traffic to Lagos, but outside the city, costs are still too high.”

In Lagos, bandwidth can be as cheap as $1 per Mbps, but beyond the city limits, the price jumps to around $30. For Digital Realty’s Ikechukwu Nnamani, this mismatch is a Catch-22: “The market won’t mature without investment, but investors want to see maturity first.”

Rethinking Models: From Sachets to Ecosystems

Dr. Ayotunde Coker, CEO of Open Access Data Centres, challenged the industry to embrace Africa’s informal economy with “sachet pricing”, daily or weekly data access.

He also noted that colocation facilities are evolving: “We’re building ecosystems where creators, carriers, and CDNs meet, not just renting out power and space.”

Fiber Cuts and the Latency Dilemma

Still, Nigeria’s fragile infrastructure looms large. In just 18 months, 13,000 fibre cuts were recorded, according to data shared at the forum.

MTN already runs 25,000km of fibre, while government plans to push that to 90,000km, but more fibre also means more exposure to disruption.

Rudman warned that Lagos alone cannot bear Nigeria’s digital load: “If your game downloads are only cached in Lagos, users in Kano will still suffer. We have to go inward.”

Expanding the Edge

Meta is already taking that advice to heart. Beyond its Lagos Point of Presence (PoP), the company is building a second PoP in Port Harcourt to serve the South-South. IXPN, too, is preparing to expand interconnection deeper into the regions, urging mobile operators to peer beyond Lagos.

A Call for Collaboration

The session closed on a note of unity. The panelists agreed: infrastructure is coming, but it won’t be enough without coordinated investment, ecosystem collaboration, and regulatory support.

“This is more than fibre and data centres,” Nnamani concluded. “This is about bringing content closer to the people. The hyperscalers, the platforms, the carriers, it’s time for all of us to step up together.”

The 15th edition of AfPIF ended with optimism, but also a challenge: Nigeria’s digital future won’t be built by one player alone. The edge must be conquered, together.

The post AfPIF 2025: Industry Leaders Chart New Course for Nigeria’s Content Delivery appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

This year offers significant trends, prospects, and issues that are likely to define the future of cloud adoption, migration, and modernisation.

It is crucial to understand these dynamics in order to ensure that organisations are well-positioned to leverage the cloud’s innovative potential and gain a competitive edge.

Key trends driving cloud adoption

The main trend that is accelerating cloud adoption is the need for faster time-to-market. More and more companies are choosing public clouds because of the ability to quickly provision resources.

This agility allows them to identify and develop strategies to capture market opportunities before their competitors.

However, once these opportunities are seized, organisations often seek to reduce costs by migrating the workloads to alternative cloud providers or back on-premises.

However, the transition from existing applications developed on legacy systems to modern cloud-based architectures only happens when there is a clear financial benefit to do so.

Another significant trend is the shift to multi-cloud strategies. Organisations are adopting hybrid models that integrate multiple cloud providers to achieve flexibility and resilience. This approach also has the added advantage of avoiding vendor lock-in and allows companies to take full advantage of the strengths of various platforms and promote innovation and improve efficiency.

In addition, the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into cloud services is transforming productivity and business outcomes. AI enabled capabilities are becoming integral to cloud offerings and are helping businesses to automate complex tasks and gain valuable insights from large datasets.

This trend denotes the beginning of the AI transformation rather than the continued digital transformation.

Organisations that do not incorporate these technologies into their cloud strategies will be left behind in a data-driven and intelligent economy.

Challenges in cloud adoption

Although the cloud presents numerous opportunities for transformation, two primary challenges are evident: cost visibility and privacy.

The first challenge is to understand the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Even hyper-scaling companies’ experienced professionals sometimes find it difficult to accurately calculate the TCO of complex solutions that are built on multiple native cloud technologies.

To this issue, more and more businesses are applying agile approaches, starting with small-scale implementations and gradually expanding the solutions.

This approach is not only cost-effective as it also provides value in increments and enables the control of the costs, negotiating the price as the solutions grow, and ensuring that the adoption journey is financially feasible.

Privacy concerns are another significant challenge.

Because the hyperscalers are typically owned by entities in the United States or China, there is concern about the potential for government access to private data.

While technical measures like encryption and data residency solutions can be used to address these risks, they bring a layer of complexity to cloud adoption.

Some of these concerns are eliminated when data is stored on-premise through colocation providers, but this eliminates the flexibility and scalability of cloud solutions.

These challenges can be addressed effectively with a deliberate and strategic approach that balances the benefits of cloud technologies with an organisation’s unique cost and privacy concerns.

Energy Efficiency and Cloud Sustainability

As energy costs rise around the world, cloud providers and data centres are paying attention to energy efficiency.

Hyperscalers are at the forefront of this transformation as their profitability is directly linked to energy consumption. Reducing energy usage is not only costly for these providers but also improves their sustainability.

Integration with renewable energy and advanced cooling are becoming standard practices among the leading hyperscalers.

On the other hand, colocation providers often pass through energy costs to customers and standardised rates across certain markets.

To differentiate themselves, some co-location providers are investing in renewable energy farms that offer clients lower energy costs while also supporting sustainability initiatives.

These efforts highlight the growing importance of energy efficiency as a competitive advantage in the cloud market. 

Best Practices for Cloud Adoption

In order for organisations that want to adopt or grow their cloud strategies to be successful, there are certain best practices that can help maximise success and avoid pitfalls:

 Start Small, Scale Smart: This approach to cloud adoption helps to keep costs under control and avoids overinvestment. In this manner, businesses are able to gain value in increments, refine their solutions based on real-world feedback, and possibly secure better terms from providers as they scale.

 Prioritise Data Governance: Due to the complexity of the issues related to privacy and compliance, organisations need to put robust data governance frameworks in place.

This includes encrypting the data, setting access controls, and understanding data protection laws that apply to various regions.

 Evaluate Providers Holistically: Besides the cost, businesses should evaluate the hyperscalers and colocation providers based on energy efficiency, sustainability, and their initiatives that are in line with the long-term organisational goals.

 Focus on Cost Transparency: This means that organisations are able to incorporate cost monitoring and forecasting into their cloud strategies so that they can maintain financial control and avoid unexpected expenses.  

The Future of Cloud in Business

While organisations continue to face the complexities of cloud adoption, the ultimate goal remains the same: the use of technology to create value, reduce costs, and encourage innovation.

Although such challenges as cost visibility and privacy concerns persist, the cloud is critical for organisations of all industries due to its agility, scalability, and sustainability.

In 2025 and beyond, organisations that succeed in cloud adoption will be those that embrace an agile mindset, prioritise transparency, and solve emerging challenges with innovative solutions.

To align their cloud strategies with these principles, organisations can unlock the full potential of this transformative technology and consolidate their position in an increasingly competitive digital landscape.

The post Navigating the Cloud: Upcoming Trends | Challenges | Strategies appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

Up until then, many companies – specifically those that had not yet adopted cloud computing or fully migrated to cloud environments – had been cautious.

Regulatory uncertainty and concerns about future availability influenced this cautious approach, as they worried about the potential impact on their infrastructure and operations.

But now, thanks to the work of hyperscalers and other local providers, the cloud is closer and more viable for businesses than ever before.

Updating your enterprise IT to support and help realise your organisation’s current and future goals is no simple task.

It’s not a case of simply picking up your applications and dropping them into a new environment; moving away from a legacy platform to a more optimised and modernised one can have significant consequences for your overall infrastructure. And so, it’s worth reminding ourselves about what that journey entails.

Going “cloud-first”

According to research by McKinsey, while Africa’s cloud market is relatively small compared to other markets, its adoption rate is on par with the likes of North America and China.

A survey of African executives reveals that almost a fifth of their companies have all their workloads in some sort of cloud environment, with many of them being in the public cloud.

In West Africa specifically, cloud adoption is driven by multiple factors, most notably changing customer needs, new models of working and, importantly, a growing ecosystem of hyperscalers and system integrators who can help businesses migrate to the cloud.

For many businesses, becoming “cloud-first” is the ultimate goal. The strategy is two-fold: moving all or most of your infrastructure to the cloud, and prioritising cloud offerings when organisations want to start a new project or solve a problem. That being said, no organisation can become cloud-first overnight, nor is every organisation right for the strategy due to issues ranging from security and compliance to skills gaps and costs.

Any move towards becoming cloud-first requires a comprehensive and well-planned application modernisation process.

Trust the process

First and foremost, modernisation should be spread out across multiple phases. Organisations need to choose which applications to prioritise when moving to a hybrid cloud setup, thus not disrupting any existing workloads that are still on-premise.

The next step is simplifying application deployment and management through containerisation. By encompassing the entire application, containers enable organisations to consistently test and deploy while reducing costs and operational complexity.

Additionally, organisations should extend the capabilities of their applications to all developers using application programming interfaces (APIs). That way, they are made available across all cloud environments.

Enterprises may be wondering how best to take care of legacy applications that began life on-premise. The answer lies with microservices and using them to break down monolithic applications into deployable parts with individual functions. That way, developers can work on those parts without compromising overall functionality.

Microservices also form the basis for new, cloud-native applications and lower the always-on risks associated with development.

In countries like Nigeria, where businesses face stiff competition and challenging market conditions, companies need enhanced agility and to be able to respond to customers’ needs and market opportunities.

Taking the hybrid route

Discussions surrounding modernisation are inextricably linked to the hybrid cloud as the strategy remains the most popular and optimal for businesses.

Hybrid architectures provide the best of both worlds, offering the flexibility and scalability organisations need to grow their operations and infrastructure.

Hybrid cloud platforms equip businesses with a unified software foundation for their infrastructure and applications.

They enable applications and workloads to be moved effortlessly across cloud environments and offer integrated developments and operational capabilities that are essential for streamlined application deployment and management.

Crucially, hybrid platforms let an organisation transform at its own pace, giving you breathing room to outline and execute your modernisation plan meticulously.

Modernisation is not a journey businesses need to travel alone. With the help of infrastructure partners, they can receive the guidance they need and establish the systems they need to develop and deploy new, cloud-native applications.

The post No time like the Present: The Modernisation Journey of a West African enterprise appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

This programme is designed to establish colocation and ecosystem partnerships, empowering members to expand their product portfolio & offerings alongside their market presence including an expanded data centre footprint.

ADC Channel presents a unique opportunity for global carriers, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), system integrators, Data Centres, Mobile Network, Content Developer, telecommunications companies, network infrastructure operators, hyperscalers and others to deliver state-of-the-art, sustainable and cost-effective digital solutions to their clients.

The primary objective of ADC Channel is to foster collaboration amongst partners, facilitating the delivery of optimised solutions and comprehensive support to clients.

Partners enrolled in ADC Channel will benefit from a flexible approach that accommodates various partnership and go-to-market (GTM) models.

Finhai Munzara, CFO of Africa Data Centres, emphasises that the benefits of the ADC Channel programme extend to all types of partners.

“Our facilities are designed with the needs of hyper-scale, wholesale & enterprise clients in mind, catering to their technical, operational and commercial requirements. Whether it’s greenfield projects, built-to-suit facilities, powered shells, dedicated halls, or hybrid colocation, we offer flexible, scalable and sustainable solutions that suit partners of every kind,” Munzara said.

He elaborates on the advantages of becoming an Africa Data Centres Partner.

Firstly, clients gain an additional product offering & footprint to augment their existing portfolio, enabling them to offer bundled solutions.

This not only enhances their current revenue streams but also positions them for further growth & retention with both existing and future customers.

Africa Data Centres has also developed ADC Marketplace, a pioneering platform designed to empower partners and customers across the continent.

This innovative marketplace provides a dynamic space for partners to showcase their services and for customers to explore offerings, fostering collaboration and visibility within the African tech community.

Offering unmatched connectivity and growth opportunities, the ADC Marketplace stands as the ultimate platform for African enterprise organisations and tech companies seeking to thrive in today’s digital landscape.

Partners stand to benefit from reduced churn, as colocation is inherently a ‘sticky’ product with minimal price erosion.

By offering best-of-breed colocation services from Africa’s leading data centre provider, partners can differentiate themselves from competitors.

Partners will also enjoy seamless access to data centre experts, continuous commercial and technical support, and regular, complimentary training for their sales and product teams.

Furthermore, partners face no financial risk, as participation in the channel programme requires no investment and entails no capital expenditures for building data centres.

Partners can also leverage flexibility in setting their selling prices and receive significant upfront discounts, further bolstering their competitive advantage.

Exclusive benefits include competitive pricing, dedicated sales & Presales Teams, Remote Hands support and access to joint marketing resources & activities, enabling partners to thrive in the marketplace.

Munzara emphasises that ADC Channel programme  epitomises Africa Data Centres’ commitment to fostering collaborative growth and innovation.

“It serves as a platform for clients to enrich their product portfolios and seamlessly extend their business across diverse ecosystems with openness and transparency.” Africa Data Centres warmly invites partners to embark on this transformative journey towards shaping the future of digital connectivity in Africa.

“The programme prioritises mutual growth, leveraging Africa Data Centres’ profound industry expertise and extensive infrastructure,” Munzara concludes.

The post Africa Data Centres Unveils ADC Channel Programme appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

The company, operating in Nigeria, focuses on providing best-in-class data centre colocation services and unlimited internet exchange interconnection and peering between carriers and customers.

Nigeria is one of Africa’s key entry points for global telecommunications, content and cloud players, with about 85 million Internet subscribers, more than any country in the region or Europe.

The interconnection metrics in the country are pointers to the significant growth of interconnectivity in the country.

As of 2023, 250 licensed ISPs have been registered, about 60% are not operational or outside of Lagos, while about 10% are owned by enterprise businesses utilising the licenses for internal delivery. Interestingly, 65 networks are fully operational from Rack Centre, with 30 providing dark fibre or wave capacity.

Despite the data centre market being very capital-intensive and highly competitive, Rack Centre has been able to carve a culture of operational excellence through solution-driven strategies that address its location on the Mainland and effective management of fibre cuts challenges.

This strategy resulted in the company’s zero downtime in ten years, a rare feat in the Nigerian business environment of epileptic power supply, dearth of workforce and poor infrastructure.

Pushing the envelope

Currently, Rack Centre is expanding its data centre campus by constructing a new build, the LGS 2 data centre, with an IT power of 12MW.

This is a quantum leap from the first facility, the LGS 1, which boasts a 1.5MW IT load and is home to over 65 telecommunication carriers, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), global Tier 1 networks, and pan-African international carriers, including direct interconnections to all five undersea cables serving the South Atlantic Coast of Africa including Equiano and in the foreseeable future 2Africa and every country on the Atlantic coast of Africa.

On completion, the LGS 2 and its mammoth capacity will significantly contribute to the thriving Nigerian digital landscape broadening the company’s capacity and power to give more carrier-neutral access to the richest variety of network service providers and all cable landing stations in Lagos State.

Unlocking connectivity from the mainland  

The solution has been at the heart of Rack Centre’s strategy, from Ikeja, on the Lagos Mainland, to its operational strategy. In terms of location, a data centre can be built anywhere, as long as power and connectivity issues are appropriately handled.

However, the site is key because it will impact the service quality it can provide its customers. Choosing a good location translates to optimised infrastructure and application environment that helps for a wider reach, while a poor site can result in unstable connections and efficiency problems.

In the case of Rack Centre, the location of its LGS 1 and LGS 2 data centre campuses are favourable and strategic, sitting 30 meters above sea level, a vantage position against any form of flooding.

It enables perfect redundancy for enterprise businesses with disaster recovery sites on the Island, giving it access to the largest population for FTTH service providers and access to the Southwestern part of Nigeria by Enterprise and Service providers.

Added to this is proximity to the four compass points of Lagos with easy access to the airport, train and bus stations, and fire service stations.

These are some of the key factors prospects customers/clients are looking for in a data centre provider beyond the physical security as they will guarantee disaster recovery, service levels, scalability, and reliability to ongoing support.

Data centres have supported businesses across various industries, helping them cope with digital transformation by offering infrastructure flexibility, better recovery options, and improved collaborative systems, among others at a lower cost.

Re-routing as a solution to fibre cuts complaints 

The presence of terrestrial and undersea fibre optic cables crisscrossing the four corners of the globe has made the internet possible, thereby aiding the interconnectivity between businesses, people and continents. Fibre optic cables provide much higher bandwidth speeds across very long distances.

There are about 1.5 million kilometres of undersea cables in the world’s oceans. When the undersea cables reach the shore, they connect to cable landing stations, which serve as access points for terrestrial cable networks to connect with undersea cables.

One of the major causes of terrestrial fibre optic cuts is natural disasters due to wear and tear, which could cause breakages and lead to poor connection.

In the case of distances, like it is with terrestrial/metro fibre distance from the cable landing stations in Lagos Island to Rack Centre on the Lagos Mainland, there could be mishaps.

To mitigate such effects and maintain ideal connectivity for the benefit of its esteemed clients, Rack Centre has been strategic by plotting diverse fibre routes that promote a redundancy outlook to ensure operations continue even if a component fails.

To avail of such situations, Rack Centre operates along five major diverse route entries, which allows for a reroute of service should a mishap occur along a specific route.

These multiple redundant fibre connections have helped ensure infrastructure flexibility, better recovery options, and improved collaborative systems.

The five major diverse routes are: through Eko Bridge, 3rd Mainland Bridge, Carter Bridge, Ikorodu into Epe to Lagos and Sagamu, Ijebu-Ode, Epe to Lagos. The effectiveness of these diverse routes is the flexibility to switch to other routes in case of a mishap.

More solutions to better connectivity 

Rack Centre is going beyond re-routing fibre optic cables in the case of mishaps to embracing new and direct metro fibre deployment between cable landing stations such as Brainshare networks, I2M Cable by Cedarview and FLV.

As a carrier-neutral data centre, Rack Centre also enables subsea cable partners to terminate at its facility, allowing for more connectivity as it enables the partners to be closer to their customers and business partners.

The Subsea cable partners terminating at Rack Centre consist of the following leading connectivity solutions providers: WIOCC: – 2Africa Submarine, NATCOM:– SAT-3 Submarine Cable, PCCW: – Sat-3 Submarine Cable, Liquid Intelligence:- SAT-3 Submarine Cable, Liquid Intelligence: – WACS Submarine Cable, PCCW:- WACS Submarine Cable, Dolphine Telecoms:–ACE Submarine Cable, MTN:-ACE Submarine Cable, Orange:-ACE Submarine Cable, Glo:-Glo-1 Submarine Cable, MainOne:– MainOne cable Submarine Cable, and MainOne:- Nigeria Cameroon Submarine Cable System (NCSCS) Submarine Cable.

The presence of these subsea cable partners at Rack Centre is a testament to the operational excellence and projects the vast opportunities available in the thriving Nigerian digital marketplace.

It also highlights the necessity of expansion in the construction of the LGS 2 campus data centre, which increases the Rack centre data campus capacity to 13.5MW.

As the first IFC Edge Green building-certified data centre campus in the EMEA region, the company is not letting down its guard in ensuring that Nigeria’s economy becomes smart and that the digital ecosystem in Africa is at its optimal best.

With the ongoing construction of the LGS 2 campus data centre, Africa would have enough capacity for enterprise businesses, small and corporate businesses, Telco & Carriers, financial institutions, international cloud and content providers and hyperscalers to enjoy latency reduction from Rack Centre.

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