Technology

LINX expands its African interconnection platform to PAIX Data Centres Nairobi, enhancing peering and connectivity for Kenya’s digital growth. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

The London Internet Exchange (LINX) has announced its expansion of the African interconnection platform to PAIX Data Centres in Nairobi due to increasing demand from the local networking community

LINX Nairobi, a neutral, multi-location interconnection service, offers peering options for networks aiming to boost performance, improve redundancy, and reduce latency. Since its launch in November 2023, this Internet Exchange Point (IXP) has rapidly grown, attracting a strong community of local ISPs, global content providers, and key partners, with increasing traffic levels.

After extensive engagement with the local engineering community and rising interest from networks based at PAIX, LINX decided to scale its infrastructure, just nine months post-launch.

Located in Upper Hill’s Britam Tower, PAIX Nairobi NBO-1 sits in a key business and financial district for East and Central Africa. Networks housed in this facility will soon be just one cross-connection away from peering with those on the LINX Nairobi platform, connecting global giants like Meta and local ISPs such as ICON Fiber, Mtaani Telecom, Mymanga Networks, and PepeaNet.

Kenya's digital growth

LINX Nairobi's infrastructure is supported by dual fibre connections between its data centre locations, ensuring full resilience and redundancy. Adding PAIX will elevate LINX’s network to a 4-site interconnection hub, with installation work underway and expected to go live shortly.

PAIX Data Centres’ sales manager Emmanuel Makina, stated, “With our cloud- and carrier-neutral datacentre located in the centre of the business district, we host communities of interest for the financial and content industries, so that includes financial services, advertising, broadcasting, and entertainment companies. The customers that host their mission critical equipment in our facility have a requirement to be online 24×7 in today’s digital economy. They all benefit from being able to connect to multiple networks, easily scale their bandwidth, reduce their connectivity costs, and have the lowest latency to their partners.”

“Further, the PAIX facility is a natural communications hub for Nairobi: in a very central location in Upper Hill, and next to Britam Tower where our customers can colocate their antennas for wireless connectivity to all parts of the city,” added Makina.

Jennifer Holmes, chief commercial officer for LINX, commented, “We didn’t expect to be expanding the LINX Nairobi network this soon, but we like to pride ourselves in our commitment to the local community. They said, we listened. By expanding the peering opportunities to the customers at PAIX we are adding value to the entire LINX Nairobi community and prospective new local and global networks who we are in talks with.”

PAIX Data Centres CEO and founder, Wouter van Hulten, emphasised their dedication to advancing Kenya’s digital infrastructure, “PAIX Data Centres is fully committed to the development of Kenya’s digital infrastructure, with support for all the latest AI hardware and software. PAIX Data Centres is invested in by Africa50, a private equity fund in which the Republic of Kenya is a shareholder. We are building and operating the infrastructure to enable Africa’s digital economy, with local datacentres, local teams, and world class operations, all essential ingredients for the developments that lie ahead. We warmly welcome LINX to the PAIX Community in Kenya.”

The teams from PAIX and LINX are available at ITW Africa in Nairobi this week to discuss network deployment strategies, peering opportunities, and much more regarding LINX Nairobi.

The development will enable mobile service providers to deliver 5G services to their subscribers. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

Nokia has strengthened its partnership with Next-Gen InfraCo (NGIC) by building a 5G mobile core network

NGIC will make use of the 5G network to offer wholesale services to mobile service providers in the country, enabling them to deliver 5G services to their subscribers.

The 5G Non-Standalone (NSA) Core will provide the security, resiliency and reliability that is needed to deliver 5G services in the West African country. The agreement includes Nokia’s Cloud Mobility Manager (CMM) and Cloud Mobile Gateway (CMG), in addition to the previously announced 4G and 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) AirScale base stations, and will be managed by Nokia’s MantaRay network management system. Nokia will also provide its end-to-end service suite for the full scope of the deal.

“We chose Nokia because they are a trusted and proven partner in Africa that can deliver on our ambitions to introduce 5G services in Ghana,” remarked Harikirit Singh, executive director of NGIC Ghana. “As NGIC is a wholesale network provider to mobile operators in Ghana, Nokia’s 5G RAN and Core solution is a key part of our network evolution as it incorporates the flexibility, scalability, resilience and security that we need as the sole 5G network in the country. This will enable us to integrate more seamlessly with our clients’ networks to deliver 5G services to the people and businesses of Ghana.”

Expanding 5G

The Nokia and NGIC 5G open-access and cloud-based network will offer mobile operators in Ghana a shared, secure, environmentally sustainable and high-speed network that will enable the rapid expansion of 5G services with reduced capital expenditure. In the future, the network will enable newer capabilities, like enhanced mobile broadband, massive machine-type communication and ultra-reliable low-latency communication.

NGIC plans to launch its wholesale 4G and 5G Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) within 2024. Additionally, to keep the shared network at the forefront of technology, Nokia and NGIC will build a flagship 4G/5G Center of Excellence in Ghana that will serve as a test bed for newer technologies and use cases, and also demonstrate Nokia’s capabilities on network sharing, Cloud RAN and Open RAN.

Michael Tseytlin, chief technology officer of NGIC Ghana, surmised, “In partnership with Nokia, we will empower our customers to fully benefit from 5G in Ghana, with plans to extend this to other regions in Africa. NGIC will utilize Nokia's technology and products to deploy network infrastructure and related services, aiming to serve both enterprise and consumer markets. This initiative will help bridge the digital divide and introduce new services in finance, healthcare and education to enable Ghana's transition to the digital economy.”

In phase 2 of the project, GBB adopted Huawei’s FusionDC1000B prefabricated modular data centre solution. (Image source: GBB)

Galaxy Backbone (GBB), a digital transformation company, has achieved Uptime Tier IV certification for a data centre in Nigeria, the first facility in the country to obtain such a certification

GBB was established by the Federal Government of Nigeria in order to provide ICT facilities and services for government ministries departments, and agencies. It is responsible for building and operating the National Information and Communication Technology Infrastructure Backbone (NICTIB), a fiber optic network that spans the country.

In delivering this new facility which will help meet growing network demands, GBB partnered with Huawei, adopting the company’s FusionDC1000B prefabricated modular data centre solution. This transforms the traditional sequential construction mode into one that features concurrent onsite construction and factory prefabrication, achieving fast delivery and on-demand deployment.

In support of Nigeria’s digital transformation

The data centre consists of 17 prefabricated containers and integrates multiple systems such as the smart module, modular UPS, lithium battery, data centre infrastructure management (DCIM), and iCooling. Through engineering productisation, prefabrication, and pre-commissioning, only simple hoisting and assembly are required onsite, significantly reducing onsite construction waste and achieving dust-free construction. It takes only one month to hoist 17 containers and complete equipment installation and testing. Additionally, the prefabricated containers have a service life of 50 years and can withstand magnitude 3 earthquakes and scale 12 winds. They meet IP55 dustproof and waterproof standards, providing building-like quality and experience.

With most of the existing data centres in Nigeria being Tier III, the introduction of the first Tier IV facility will represent a welcome boost to efforts to end the country’s digital divide.

In designing the data centre, GBB drew on the exterior and interior layout of the industry’s best facilities and pre-integrated the equipment and power distribution rooms. And for the first time, peripheral power supply and distribution equipment, air conditioner indoor and outdoor units, and maintenance and visitor’s passages are prefabricated into modules. As a result, the data centre achieves an industry-leading prefabrication rate and passes the Uptime Tier IV certification in both design and facilities.

“Achieving this Tier IV certification from Uptime Institute is a testament to our unwavering dedication to excellence in cloud, data centre, and business continuity services,” remarked Ibrahim Adeyanju, managing director and CEO of Galaxy Backbone. “This certification assures our clients that they can rely on us for the highest levels of service availability and security. We remain committed to driving innovation and delivering world-class services to support the digital transformation of Nigeria and beyond.”

Elsewhere in Africa's flourishing data centre market, the DRC has just welcomed its first Tier III carrier-neutral data centre and Schneider Electric has also indicated its readiness to  help meeting rising data centre demand.