Rack begins construction of new data centre facility to grow capacity

Rack Centre, a pan-African data centre platform, is set to expand its capacity with the construction of a new best-in-class data centre known as LGS2 in Lagos, Nigeria.

The new building, according to Rack Centre, is expected to expand the capacity by ten folds and consolidate its leadership as the digital infrastructure hub in the sub-Saharan African region.

Jasper Lankhorst, the Group chief executive officer of Rack Centre, said the new build will enhance and broaden the capacity of the company to serve more clients in Nigeria with an IT load of 12MW as against the LGS 1 facility, which has an IT load of 1.5MW.

“With about 85 million Internet subscribers, more than any country in Africa or Europe, and the largest population and GDP in Africa, Nigeria is a key entry point for global telecommunications, content, and cloud players seeking access to the region. We are embarking on this new build to bring applications and data closer to the user and improve the quality and speed of the user experience’’

“The new facility, just like LGS 1 data centre, will offer the unique competitive edge of reliability as a Tier III Constructed Facility offering 100 percent uptime with Zero downtime and 10 levels of physical security with biometric, CCTV monitoring, and 24/7 Command Centre,” Lankhorst said.

Rack Centre, with over 60 carriers, ISPs, cloud, and content delivery networks, offers a wide and unrestricted choice of services for its customers. Fibre access to the facility is through three diverse routes and includes all active undersea cables on the Atlantic coast of Africa

According to Lankhorst, Rack Centre is developing one of the most efficient and sustainable data centres in Lagos, Nigeria, and across Sub-Saharan Africa in line with its sustainability strategy.

“The company is switching its power source from diesel to gas not only to reduce carbon footprint but also to reduce environmental impact and align with the global sustainability data centre design trend.”

“Rack Centre is forecasted to be 35 percent more energy-efficient than other regional data centres, and 16 percent more energy-efficient than the global average. It will reduce water consumption by 41 percent, and there will be a 45 percent saving in embodied energy in materials used,” he said.

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Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new build, representing the Executive Governor of Lagos State, the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Obafemi Hamzat, commended the board and management of Rack Centre for the huge investment in the new data centre and for locating the project in Lagos state.

“The importance of the data centre expansion project cannot be overemphasized as a critical infrastructure that plays a vital role in Information technology, especially as it relates to the storage and security of data which is important to businesses and organizations.”

“We are very excited to have this kind of key Information Technology infrastructure like the LGS 2 data centre by Rack Centre in Lagos as this is in line with the ‘Themes’ agenda of the state government to make Lagos a 21st Century economy,” he said.