BY MARY ADISA
It is the largest and most technologically advanced digital habitat for cloud, colocation and connectivity in East Aafrica
Schneider Electric, the leader in digital transformation of energy management and automation, has partnered with Nairobi-based iXAfrica data centres to launch East Africa’s first and largest hyper cloud data centre.
The power train for the new facility is built around Schneider Electric MV and LV switchgear to ensure stable and reliable cloud services renewably powered by Kenya’s grid.
Dubbed ‘NBOX1’, the new world class facility is now open and ready for business as a carrier-neutral, AI-ready data centre – the largest and most technologically advanced digital habitat for cloud, colocation and connectivity in East Africa.
Mr Ifeanyi Odoh, Schneider Electric Country President in East Africa, said that the hyper cloud data centre is designed to attract “hyperscale” and internet customers to the region’s largest data hub.
This while delivering a customer and user experience comparable to facilities in North America and Western Europe.
“The solutions provided by Schneider Electric are engineered to support N+1 redundancy with four independent power trains, meeting iXAfrica’s immediate and long-term objectives, including design 1.25 PUE across the campus, as well as a 99.999 percent uptime guarantee,” said Mr Odoh.
Underpinning the launch of NBOX1 according to Mr Odoh, is Schneider Electric’s proven EcoStruxure for data centres architecture and solutions, providing the new data centre with maximum resilience, uptime and cost efficiency, enhanced security, and the ability to meet iXAfrica’s sustainability goals.
A Natural Digital Habitat for Innovation
Backed by a $50m capital investment from leading investment firm Helios, iXAfrica’s new data centre is positioned amid Africa’s growing technology epicenter- Digital Savannah- serves a population of over 300 million.
It supports an ecosystem for innovation which includes a skilled workforce, cloud and content providers, and colocation and connectivity services.
“Kenya,” says Mr Snehar Shah, CEO iXAfrica, “is a hypercloud-ready region with advanced cloud adoption propensities, a digitally savvy ecosystem, access to diverse internet fibre connectivity, and high-availability and low-carbon sources of power.”
“This all sits within a country offering a stable regulatory and political environment, and a strong economy forecast to grow 5.2 percent in 2024.”
Schneider Solutions Guarantee 99.999 percent Uptime
A key customer requirement for this major new campus data centre development is to ensure ongoing and dependable IT operations.
To ensure power quality and reliability, iXAfrica turned to Schneider Electric to provide the power train solution including power protection and distribution equipment, together with transformers, MV and LV switchgear, and a basic BMS for monitoring the solution.
Schneider Electric worked with local consultants Prisma Techniques to ensure that the powertrain solution met the objectives of the design provided by FutureTech on behalf of iXAfrica.
The equipment is engineered to meet IEC standards as well as local requirements imposed by the nature of Kenya’s national grid, and environmental considerations such as weather conditions and Nairobi’s high altitude.
The new data centre is ‘EcoStruxure-ready’, with components of the installed EcoStruxure for data centres platform solution including Galaxy VX modular 3-phase UPS with Li-ion, PDUs, LV and MV Switchgear.
With the power grid creating stability challenges as it introduces more power from renewable sources, the use of back-up lithium-ion batteries in conjunction with the Galaxy VX UPS provides a formidable solution to some of the challenges associated with intermittency or variability of supply.
Sustainability by Design
With NBOX1 designed and built as a ‘Data Centre of the Future’, Schneider Electric EcoStruxure for data centres and its supporting solutions not only enable the highest levels of data centre performance, resilience and resource efficiency, but also support iXAfrica’s sustainability ambitions.
This is through energy savings and lowered carbon dioxide emissions.
Mr Mouna Essa Egh, the Secure Power Vice President for Middle East and Africa noted Schneider Electric’s commitment to pioneering sustainable solutions for data centres.
“We believe that sustainable practices are essential for the future of data centres, and we are proud to partner with organizations like iXAfrica to create environmentally conscious and innovative digital habitats for the evolving technological landscape,” said Mouna.
This even as Mr Snehar Shah said; “we have a very strategic relationship with Schneider Electric.”
“In fact, our new Nairobi campus site is built on land formerly part of Schneider’s complex, and the power engineering for the site was designed by Schneider’s local partners.”
“NBOX1 is sustainable by design, and our goal is to ‘Keep it Africa’ – our switchgear and panelware were all manufactured by Schneider Electric on our own doorstep.”
“We’re delighted to partner with Schneider Electric, a company that not only shares our ethos and passion for the environment, but is also committed to ensuring that iXAfrica and its clients meet their operational and sustainability goals.”