Dimension Data’s Internet Solutions said on Wednesday that it is investing half a billion rand in a new, state-of-the-art data centre facility in Johannesburg.

Billed as Africa’s largest “prefabricated” data centre, the facility is located in the Johannesburg suburb of Rosebank and will be opened early next year.

The energy-efficient Parklands Data Centre is 1 600sq m in size and will provide 572 racks and 2.2MW of IT power.

“The facility is intelligently built for flexibility, optimal automation and minimal resource consumption,” the company said in a statement.

Matthew Ashe, Internet Solutions’ executive head of data centres, said the data centre is ideally located for low-latency applications and offers “carrier neutrality”.

“As the move to cloud-based solutions becomes more prevalent, the demand for carrier-agnostic, secure data centres on the African continent has increased,” Ashe said. “The Parklands Data Centre allows data to be collected, stored and processed locally from a purpose-built modern facility that will help run our services faster and more efficiently.”

The centre has implemented an infrastructure-on-demand model when it comes to increasing energy efficiencies, including dynamic power and cooling systems. This approach means infrastructure is switched on and ramped up depending on what is required at any point in time. Internet Solutions described this as a significant move away from the conventional method of running infrastructure at full tilt, even with minimal occupancy. — © 2018 NewsCentral Media