Broadband connectivity and technology solutions provider Paratus Namibia announced the upcoming inauguration of its neutral data center -Armada Data Center- in August 2022. The facility will be the first and largest neutral data center in the country, with 240 racks installed over 734 m2. It is valued at $8.2 million.

“The Paratus Armada DC will store and protect client data 24/7; house and physically protect all equipment and computer systems; handle the migration from off-site to the data center; provide backup power generation, and offer an array of add-on services and features,” said Schalk Erasmus (pictured), the Chief Operations Officer of Paratus Namibia.

With the new era of digital transformation in Africa, highlighted by the Covid-19 pandemic, the UK-based consultancy business Turner and Townsend estimate that the size of the data center market is expected to exceed $3 billion by 2025, growing at a compound annual growth rate of more than 12%. Over the past five years, the industry has seen increasing interest from large global data hosting and cloud service providers such as Amazon Web Service, Microsoft, and Huawei.

The Paratus Namibia data center will join Google's Equiano undersea optical fiber cable for which the company has already built a landing station. These various investments reflect Paratus' efforts to strengthen its position in the changing digital connectivity and services market.

Isaac K. Kassouwi