Equinix, the world’s digital infrastructure company, announced plans to enter the South African market with a US $ 160 million data center investment in Johannesburg, adding to its present presence in Nigeria, Ghana, and Cote d’Ivoire on the African continent. The new data center is expected to open in mid-2024.
South African Market
With its South Africa expansion, Equinix is entering into one of the African continent’s biggest and most advanced digitally developed countries. Already a strategically important connectivity hub for digital networks, South Africa boasts a significant network of submarine communications cables. These strategic links between countries and continents are established at several points across the country’s 2,850 kilometres of coastline. Also Read: Vantage Announces Second Data Center Campus in South Africa “We entered the African continent earlier this year with the acquisition of MainOne, the leading West African data center and connectivity solutions provider with presence in Nigeria, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire,” said Eugene Bergen, President, EMEA, Equinix. “This investment will give both South African businesses the opportunity to expand internationally and global businesses to expand into South Africa. Both will be able to accelerate their growth by rapidly scaling their infrastructure, easily adopting hybrid multicloud architectures and interconnecting with business partners through the Platform Equinix ecosystem of more than 10,000 customers,” Eugene Bergen added.
Key Facts and Highlights of DC
Equinix plans to expand into South Africa with a US $ 160 million data center investment in Johannesburg, expected to open in mid-2024. The new 4.0 MW data center, JN1, will provide 690+ cabinets and more than 20,000 gross square feet of colocation space. Two additional phases of development are planned. The fully completed 20.0 MW campus will provide 3,450+ cabinets and more than 100,000 gross square feet of colocation space.
Sustainability
Equinix desires to be good custodians of the environment and strives to design, build and operate sustainable data centers, planned to reduce the consumption of resources. In addition, the digital infrastructure company has set a long-term goal of sourcing 100% clean and renewable energy for its global platform. As a result, Equinix’s renewable energy coverage in 2021 was 95% and has been over 90% since 2018. Also Read: Equinix Announces TY15 IBX; Invests $115M in its New Data Center
First Company in DC Industry to set a Science-Based Emission Target
Equinix is the first company in the Data Center industry to set a science-based emission reduction target and commit to being climate neutral across its global operations by 2030, aligned to the Paris Accord 1.5-degree scenario. This new DC facility is expected to feature many unique, sustainable attributes, including hyper-efficient cooling with outside air economization using minimal water, allowing Equinix to limit its carbon footprint and maintain energy-efficient operations with industry-leading PUEs.
Recent Expansion Plans
This announcement is the latest in a series of market entries for the world’s digital infrastructure company. Following the recently disclosed plans to enter Indonesia and Malaysia, Equinix has planned two expansions into ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) after the acquisition of MainOne in April 2022.
