Data centre infrastructure company Africa Data Centres has added three halls, totalling 6 MW, of IT load capacity that is now live, to its CPT1 facility in Cape Town, thereby doubling its capacity.

The company says it is seeing tremendous growth in the data centre market in South Africa generally, as national and international cloud and IT service providers seek to expand their footprints in the region.

The expansion adds 1 000 racks of white space available for customers to lease, although the physical site is significantly larger. It is made up of two more colocation data halls and one hyperscale hall, African Data Centres says.

The additional halls are built according to Africa Data Centres' modular design, which enables rapid scalability and allows the facility to be populated as and when required to suit the needs of the customer.

“This expansion by Africa Data Centres is in response to the increasing demand for colocation capacity in South Africa. Cape Town is the second largest provincial economy in South Africa, as well as the de facto software and technology hub in Southern Africa,” says technology company and Africa Data Centres parent company Cassava Technologies president and Group CEO Hardy Pemhiwa.

The expansion was enabled with support from the US through an up to $300-million loan from the US International Development Finance Corporation to Africa Data Centres, he points out.

The new halls feature high-security standards and focus on the elements that matter most to clients, such as scalability, flexibility and energy efficiency to bring world-class, affordable solutions to all its clients in the area.

This data centre is highly flexible and designed to accommodate different and evolving customer demands, says Pemhiwa.

Additionally, the CT1 data centre uses hybrid cooling technology that incorporates air cooling and liquid cooling and, despite its versatility, is energy efficient.

The company's cooling is powered by renewable energy, does not consume water for the IT infrastructure and has a high power-use effectiveness rating, he says.

Meanwhile, the CPT1 facility has a 20-year power purchase agreement with Distributed Power Africa, which is also part of the Cassava Technologies group.

“The introduction of wheeled solar power at the CPT1 facility offers significant benefits to our customers, providing a truly sustainable data centre solution,” says Africa Data Centres interim CEO Finhai Munzara.

“As the demand for data continues to skyrocket across Africa, where power supply is often intermittent, the need for reliable, cost-effective and green power is critical,” he says.

By harnessing renewable energy, the CPT1 facility ensures consistent power supply and supports sustainable operations, helping customers achieve their environmental goals and reducing reliance on non-renewable energy sources.

Cape Town is an excellent location for colocation facilities as they are close to all the submarine cable landing stations. Additionally, the Cape Town facility houses the Cape Town Internet Exchange, which makes multi-region peering more accessible, efficient, and easy to manage, Munzara adds.

This also facilitates direct connections between networks, enabling data to flow more efficiently and reducing latency, giving our users a faster, more responsive online experience.

“The expansion increases the capacity of the company’s data centres in South Africa and it is an integral part of its investment plans to deliver several additional data facilities across the continent.”