Data centre operator Teraco Data Environments will host two of the five points of presence state-owned telecommunications operator Broadband Infraco plans to establish in SA’s major centres in 2010.

Teraco, which operates so-called “vendor-neutral” data centres — facilities that are independent of any one telecoms operator — says Infraco will offer tier-one national backbone services from Teraco facilities in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Infraco has been established in an effort to bring down the high cost of national backhaul — the telecoms links between the country’s towns and cities — and provide an alternative network to Telkom’s. It has been licensed to sell wholesale capacity to other licensed telecoms operators. The company is expected to launch formally within the next couple of months.

Teraco MD Lex van Wyk says telecoms companies will have direct access to Infraco’s 11 700km of national fibre infrastructure and, in future, capacity on the West African Cable System, the submarine cable in which Infraco is a significant investor.

Infraco has begun testing network nodes in Teraco’s Cape Town and Johannesburg data centres, and will start offering services later this month.

Locating its points of presence in Teraco’s facilities makes sense as other operators already have infrastructure there, making it relatively trivial to send traffic between networks. Dark Fibre Africa, Telkom, Neotel, Cell C, Vodacom Business and Africa.Inx all have infrastructure into Teraco’s data centres. — Staff reporter, TechCentral