South Africa: Teraco Launches Cloud eXchange

VENTURES AFRICA – Teraco Data Environments today launched the first data center environment in Africa. The product – Africa Cloud eXchange (ACX) will provide access to a vendor-neutral co-location space for sharing and selling cloud services. The cloud eXchange will provide secure data center environment where cloud providers can co-locate their service offering.
Justifying the need for the new infrastructure, Teraco Data Environments Managing Director, Lex van Wyk said, “With the rapid growth in IT requirements, Africa needs a solution to keep up with the demand. With the recent growth in fibre capacity along the East and West coasts, Teraco has identified the opportunity to offer the ideal data centre environment to all service providers wanting to provide IT solutions into African markets.”
“Our facilities in South Africa already boast connectivity to all the undersea cables offering a combined 28 landing points along the East and West coasts of the continent, as well as all major carriers operating in SA and several active cloud providers. This, in effect, means the Africa Cloud eXchange is already in operation,” he added.

As a result of the incessant power outage and the general lack of infrastructure across Africa, Africa Cloud eXchange will probably make South Africa the central hub for international access providers and cloud services for other African countries.

“The Africa Cloud eXchange allows South African and African cloud providers to host their platform, and offer services from a vendor-neutral well connected and highly secure data centre environment, thereby opening up South Africa to the rest of the continent,” Van Wyk says.
Teraco through its product offers free peering, cost-effective interconnects, access to all major carriers, resilient power, remote support and high levels of security, is the ideal space for cloud to be established in Africa.
It aims to provide a highly secure data centre environment with easy access to global connectivity providers.
Two months ago, Teraco launched NAPAfrica to provide an open, free and public peering facility with the aim of make peering simple and available to everyone. Van Wyk says the Africa Cloud eXchange concept is no different.

“One of the essential characteristics of cloud computing is broad network access to offer services to customers wherever they may be. Teraco offers BytesNet the ability to connect and peer with other providers to ensure that our cloud services are delivered in the optimal manner for our customers within South Africa and throughout Africa.” Ronald Boyle, Principal Consultant from Bytes System Integration, affirms.