Demand for data backup opens windows for IT firms

The firm will carry out pre-development planning, construction and setting up infrastructure, maintenance and management of civil, electrical, security and safety related works as well as acquisition of technology solutions and expertise and overall management of the implementation process.

Growing potential in the industry also motivated South African cellular communications group Vodacom early in the year to announce that it was going to set up two new data centres; one in Nigeria and another in East Africa, probably in Tanzania, as it seeks to cement its presence in business data services on the continent.

According to the firm, the two new facilities will complement Vodacom’s 1,300 square-metre data centre in Midrand, north of Johannesburg. The Midrand centre was on plan for an expansion to 5,000 square metres.

The two projected centres will initially have a capacity of 500 square metres each, to be expanded to 1,000 square metres over time.

The three data centres will all eventually be connected via undersea cables - the West African Cable System (Wacs) and Sat-3 to Nigeria, and the East African Submarine System (Eassy) and Seacom to East Africa.

Set up shop

Early in the year, the International Consortium for Organisational Resilience, an IT examiner based in the US, set up shop in Kenya in partnership with a local software firm, Openworld Ltd, in an effort to train professionals who can set up and operate data centres.

The East African region is hampered by a lack of facilities that meet international standards and professionals to man them.

As many firms continue to embrace information technology, demand for safer storage facilities for electronic data is on the rise.

But corporate East Africa is facing the challenge of accessing backup storage facilities that meet the required international standards.

As a result, firms like banks, mobile telephony firms and insurance companies that store sensitive information have opted to rely on date centres in South Africa, Europe and the United States.