Digital Realty-owned data centre operator Teraco said on Wednesday that it has completed construction of the first phase of JB4, the latest expansion of its “hyperscale” facility at Bredell on Johannesburg’s East Rand.

The first phase of JB4 comprises 30 000sq m of building structure, 8 000sq m of data hall space and 19MW of critical power load.

JB4 is connected to all the other Teraco data centres through a “diverse ecosystem of network operators”.

The facility has multiple fibre paths to the Teraco Isando campus connectivity hub, which is about 20km west of the site.

Phase 1 includes eight 1 000sq m halls. It has been built in line with global hyperscale requirements and international compliance standards.

Teraco said it has now secured adjacent land and power for phase 2 of the project, which will bring the total critical power load in the facility to 50MW across the sprawling Bredell site.

“As one of Africa’s economic powerhouses, Gauteng (specifically, the greater Johannesburg metropole) is a logical destination for Teraco’s continued investment in data centre infrastructure on the continent,” the company said in a statement.

‘Enviable location’

“Home to digitally connected enterprises, including telecommunications, financial services, e-commerce, logistics and retail, the Johannesburg metropole benefits from its enviable location in the heart of Southern Africa, which has led to it becoming the hub for connectivity and peering.”

The JB4 addition to Teraco’s platform takes the company’s total critical power load capacity to 126MW across its sites at Isando (JB1/JB3; 40MW), Bredell (JB2/JB4; 64MW), Cape Town (CT1/CT2; 21MW and Durban (1MW).

Teraco CEO Jan Hnizdo said the company is seeing “significant growth as hyperscale requirements expand due to increased demand for cloud services in Africa”.

Read: Digital Realty seals blockbuster Teraco acquisition

“The continued increase of cloud adoption in Africa is also being enabled by investments in critical infrastructure, including hyperscale data centre facilities such as JB4. This will enable global cloud clients to service the South African market and the rest of the sub-Saharan African region,” he said. – © 2022 NewsCentral Media