East Africa’s largest hyperscale data centre unveiled

IXAfrica Data Centres has launched the first and largest hypercloud, AI-ready data centre in East Africa alongside Schneider Electric, an energy management and automation solutions provider

The new centre is aimed at attracting global hyperscale and Internet customers and is located in Nairobi, Kenya, which is within Africa’s growing technology epicentre – the ‘Digital Savannah’. Nicknamed ‘NBOX1’, the venture was backed by a US$50mn capital investment from Helios, a leading investment firm is now open for business

The facility is underpinned by Schneider Electric power train solutions including power protection and distribution equipment, together with transformers, MV and LV switchgear, and a basic BMS for monitoring the solution.The company’s EcoStruxure for data centres architecture and solutions is also being utilised, providing the new data centre with maximum resilience, uptime and cost efficiency, enhanced security, and the ability to meet IXAfrica’s sustainability goals.

“Kenya is a hypercloud-ready region with advanced cloud adoption propensities, a digitally savvy ecosystem, access to diverse internet fibre connectivity, high-availability and low-carbon sources of power,” remarked Snehar Shah, CEO IXAfrica. “This all sits within a country offering a stable regulatory and political environment, and a strong economy forecast to grow 5.2% in 2024.”

Schneider Electric worked with local consultants Prisma Techniques to ensure that the power train solution met the objectives of the design provided by FutureTech on behalf of IXAfrica. The equipment is engineered to meet IEC standards as well as local requirements imposed by the nature of Kenya’s national grid, and environmental considerations such as weather conditions and Nairobi’s high altitude.

With the power grid creating stability challenges as it introduces more power from renewable sources, the use of back-up lithium-ion batteries in conjunction with the Galaxy VX UPS provides a formidable solution to some of the challenges associated with intermittency or variability of supply.

Sustainability at the heart

Schneider Electric EcoStruxure for Data Centers and its supporting solutions not only enable high levels of data centre performance, resilience and resource efficiency, but also support IXAfrica’s sustainability ambitions through energy savings and lowered CO2 emissions.

Mouna Essa Egh, secure power vice president for Middle East & Africa, commented, “We believe that sustainable practices are essential for the future of data centres, and we are proud to partner with organisations like IXAfrica to create environmentally conscious and innovative digital habitats for the evolving technological landscape.”