INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Data Centres
US $ 700m ACE cable lands , adding diversity to hyper-connected hubs in Teraco data centres
data with networks , cloud providers , platforms and cable systems . “ Data centres like ours acts as the perfect neutral hub for interconnection and data exchange . It ’ s here that onramps and switching points from many different cloud providers and network operators meet and as companies increasingly embrace a hybrid infrastructure , the integration and interconnection between the different systems and platforms play a much more important role ,” she said .
The Africa Coast to Europe ( ACE ) submarine cable is now live and available for interconnection at all three of Teraco ’ s data centres across South Africa , expanding access to broadband connectivity and digital services in Africa .
ACE is the eighth submarine cable system to connect at Teraco , highlighting its position as a hyper-connected digital hub on the African continent .
Spanning approximately 17,000 km along the West Coast of Africa , ACE connects to 24 countries before backhauling via MTN South Africa , the landing partner , into Africa ’ s home of the cloud , Teraco .
Michelle McCann , Head , Interconnection and Peering , Teraco , said South Africa is a critical hub for access to services for sub-Saharan Africa . “ Our position as the hyperconnected colocation provider in Africa allows us to address the increasingly demanding level of global data transit .
This platform sets us apart as one of Africa ’ s leading modern hybrid architecture platforms ,” McCann said .
She added that there is a notable shift towards a more interconnected offering , making Teraco ’ s African Cloud Exchange vital as it links enterprise systems and
Michele McCann , Head , Interconnection and
Peering , Teraco
According to McCann , this interconnectedness within data centres now provides organisations with opportunities to more effectively address their digital transformation and the speed within which this is done . “ ACE is now equipped to offer 100 Gbps , maximising possibilities of interconnection to the Internet . This increased capacity and reach across Africa will bring a direct benefit to data-driven organisations while also supporting further development across the Internet ecosystem ,” she said .
McCann pointed out that the timing is key as South Africa ’ s cloud uptake consistently increases due to the Digital Transformation taking place across most business sectors . “ ACE is playing a critical role in the infrastructure development of the continent . Using the most advanced high-speed broadband fibre-optic technology enables the cable capacity to be increased as and when needed without additional submarine work required .”
ACE represents a total investment of approximately US $ 700 million and consists of two fibre pairs with a design capacity of 20Tbps . Latency is 145 milliseconds from Paris to Cape Town and 135 milliseconds from Lisbon to Cape Town . p
58 INTELLIGENTCIO AFRICA www . intelligentcio . com