The data centre market in Nigeria is picking up as more businesses embrace the culture of outsourcing storage of their information against the former practice of housing them in their servers. Nigeria currently boasts of data centre companies have emerged as the leaders of the market both within the country and across the African continent in terms of the quality of data infrastructure they posses.
For a definition, a data centre refers to a facility that centralises an organisation’s information technology (IT) operations and equipment, as well as where it stores, manages, and disseminates its data.
They have existed in one form or another since the coming of computers. From the days of room-sized computers to when the equipment got smaller and cheaper, and data processing needs began to expand, data storage have always been integral to the success of a business. In the early days, data was stored in clustered servers and related equipment housed in a room. Most companies still have some of these servers. But a significant number of organisations are beginning to realise the need to outsource their data storage needs to a more qualified entity that will ensure safety, reliability and availability.
As a business, choosing the right data centre can and should be an important decision. Hence, we have selected five tips that will help you make the decision process easier.
Location
One thing you will learn real fast when hunting for the best suitable data centre is that where it is located is very important. The facility location goes a long way to determine how safe the data you are importing will be. One of the major promises of outsourcing your data storage needs is for peace of mind in your business. You do not want a place that is prone to manmade or natural disasters. Choose data centres with risk mitigation from disasters.
There is also cost implication and proximity to put in mind with regards to location. Many organisations in the financial sector cannot function without fast access to their core applications. Apps may not mind where they are but they do care about latency – close proximity to the end-user. For most banks and other financial companies, their head of offices are located in Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Lekki and environs, locations which form the main business and financial centre of Lagos State, and extension, Nigeria. The data centre to serve this critical sector must thus reside within the same location, to mitigate latency issues, network and data security concerns and fibre connectivity constraints.
Reliability
Nigeria is notorious for is electricity failure problems, especially at the distribution/lastmile level, which causes downtime in power generation. You do not want that for your business. Although around the world, Tier IV data centres has the most robust option and overall less prone to fires, Nigeria however has a few Tier III data centres that has the same capabilities. These Tier III facilities have capacities to guarantee 100 percent reliability and uptime of all critical resources. Some data centres in Nigeria have invested into direct grid connections, coupled with multiple power options which ensure 100% uptime.
Scalability
Before you sign the dotted lines, consider that your business is growing, hence do you think the data centre you are aligning with will grow with you? Be sure to settle for a data centre that offers different levels of flexibility to meet your changing needs – from additional space to power and even connectivity. A couple of data centre businesses in Nigeria are currently carrying out expansion projects. For instance, MainOne’s Data Centre subsidiary, MDXI has committed significant amount of funds to expanding their facilities and presence in other parts of the country such as Lagos, Sagamu and other parts of West Africa. Your data Centre should also be able to host your infrastructure without having to invest in new hardware.
Connectivity
When choosing a data centre, it is important to align with one that is carrier-neutral, that way you are not limited to one or a few network carriers. A carrier-neutral facility gives your business access to multiple global carriers. They also enable you to have direct connection to the network provider that best suits your business operation. Additionally, a facility with a diverse network or submarine cables can open up the doors for increased connectivity for a business, as well as delivery of a broader variety of available services from network providers.
Industry best practice and high security standards
Recognition of global standards is often a good point to note when deciding on a data centre. There standards such as the PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security), ISO27001:2013 (Information Security Management System) and ISO 9001:2008 (Quality Management System), Tier III and TIA 942 standards. If you are in the financial and payment sector, you have no business putting your critical information in a data center without PCI DSS as such data centres cannot protect consumer security for your clients processing transactions using credit cards.
