Teraco Data Environments has switched on the first phase of its 3 800sq m Johannesburg data centre. The facility, at Isando, near OR Tambo International airport, is being billed as a “central node” to new national telecommunications networks.

The company has spent R60m in the first phase, which has seen the construction of about 1 000sq m of floor space in the data centre.

Teraco, which is independent of SA’s big telecoms providers, says it built the new centre in Isando because most of the operators’ fibre rings are located in the area. Telkom, Neotel, Vodacom and Dark Fibre Africa all have infrastructure in Isando.

“The facility’s power is on, acceptance tests on the uninterruptible power supplies and generators are complete, and the cooling and fire suppression systems are operational and in final testing,” says Teraco MD Lex van Wyk.

Van Wyk says Telkom is installing a node at the facility and this will be available from next week.

The Johannesburg facility is the second data centre that has been built by Teraco; the other is in Newlands in Cape Town, where it has 500sq m available.

The completion of the data centre follows just weeks after carrier-neutral telecoms specialist, Telehouse Europe, announced that it was setting up shop in SA in partnership with Teraco.

Telehouse Europe has acquired dedicated space in Teraco’s two data centres. — Staff reporter, TechCentral