Leading IT infrastructure and services company NTT has announced the opening of its latest data centre in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Johannesburg 1 Data Centre is described as being part of NTT’s expansion into the African continent. It has a capacity of 12MW covering 6,000 square metres of IT space once fully built out. The technical infrastructure is supported by N+1 uninterruptible power supply systems (UPS), N+1 generator backup, and highly redundant cooling systems. This will provide clients with dedicated sustainable infrastructure, operational control and the design flexibility required to support their high-performance needs.
The facility will cater to hyperscalers and enterprises, providing them with an opportunity to use NTT’s full ICT stack of services, including managed hybrid cloud, network management, collaboration, security and application monitoring.
The new facility uses a closed-loop chilled water system with air-cooled chillers, meaning that the water running through the cooling systems isn’t evaporated. This reduces the threat of potential drought water restrictions and allows the data centre to achieve good levels of power usage effectiveness (PUE) and water usage effectiveness (WUE).
NTT points out that Africa is experiencing a digital boom, with a population expected to double by 2050. Estimates show that 615 million users in sub-Saharan Africa will subscribe to mobile services by 2025, a 24% increase from 2020. This growth and reliance on technology is, says NTT, fuelling digital transformation initiatives and demand for high-performing data centre space.
NTT is planning to accelerate its data centre footprint in Johannesburg and other African cities to support this growth over the next several years.
NTT’s recent data centre openings in developing markets include Jakarta and Navi Mumbai, with further expansions planned in Ho Chi Minh City and Cyberjaya. The data centres will align with NTT’s commitment to achieve net-zero emissions across its data centre operations by 2030 and the complete value chain by 2040.
NTT is focused on ensuring its portfolio is powered by renewable energy by 2030 and that it applies energy efficiency measures where required.