Ayotunde Coker is the managing director of Rack Centre a Data centre operator. He spoke to Chike Onwuegbuchi on the importance of data centres interconnecting through Internet exchange point of Nigeria (IXPN),

What is the value proposition in Data Centre collocation?

Capital in millions of Dollars is needed to build a data centre, but that is not the core area of, it is better to put that resources in the front end of the business and collocate. In fact, it is difficult for those who choose to have their datacentres to have the expertise to execute. But, this is what I do every day. I wake up in the morning thinking of how best to offer services to the customers who are hosted with us. But that is not the core-competence of that company down the road that wants to build a datacentre.

They are not likely to achieve the right standard of operating it. Sometimes, it ends up as a big project that slows the system due to budget and maintenance – you have to think of 24/7 diesel availability. Some board meetings end up discussing datacentre downtime or lack of diesel; it should not be so.  Make the right selection for the company and focus on transforming the company with technology.

When you have an option to collocate and it is proven to be secured, reliable and available, then, you can sleep at night. Of course, there are other services you may need to manage such as customer relationship and so on, but you get more credit from transforming the business and the customer experience will be top notch.

On the other hand, we have 32 carriers here. If you build your datacentre you need to worry about how many carriers would want to bring their fibre to you. Now, when you do not have high quality datacentres, then, your excuse for building a data centre is cogent. But, it is capital intensive. When I was the CIO of a bank, I looked everywhere for quality data centre but could not find any in the country. Today, the sub-sector has changed. That is the value proposition of taking on colocation.

Are all Data centres in Nigeria interconnected through iXPN?

Are all data centres in Nigeria hosting on IXPN? No, but there are quite a number of them that are hosted at IXPN. We run the IXPN here and we are pleased with our relationship. iXPN is strategically located in the country to localize and optimize content/traffic as much as possible. The growth is really significant in terms of the volumes we are seeing through the IXPN.

Now, talking about interconnectivity, it is very important. Let’s look at carrier neutrality: a carrier is an operator that provides fibre connectivity, radio or satellite. They carry data from A to B. Telcos like MTN, Glo, Airtel and so on, are carriers. If you are neutral it means you are not a carrier and the carriers are comfortable connecting to you because there is no competition between you and them. They don’t feel that any of their data or information will be used against them.

Every major carrier in the country is here in Rack Centre. If you want to get to Maiduguri or anywhere in the country, you will get there.

In fact, if you want to get to anywhere in Africa or around the world, you will; somehow. The reason is simple: we have the key Tier1 customers and pan-African facilities that cross-connect. We also have the added value of high quality carrier neutral environment at scale. So, it attracts the carriers. If you want to connect to Kaduna, Damaturu or anywhere else you can pick from the whole range of carriers and we will work out how to get there. Every bank here (in Lagos) connects to their branches in those far end States.

In terms of cost, what you will find is that, with time, hubs will start to emerge in some of the geo-political zones to deliver services closer to the point of use. We are going to witness that over the next three to four years, especially where you find more economic activities. It will allow us to optimise our footprints, nationally.

How is Rack Centre penetrating the West African Market?

Right now, we have customers that are located across different countries in West Africa. There are others who see the value of partnering with us. However, with the strength of brand we have now, we see the benefit of locating elsewhere in West Africa. A francophone kind of location is a good option. May people would think, ‘Oh, Ghana should be the next place’. Well, we reach Ghana through many options here. Do you want to go by Main One, Glo, MTN; we will take you to Ghana through any of them.

The benefit of being in a francophone is due to the synergy to address the needs around the West African area. We take a step at a time. In some of those countries are our competition, but competition is healthy. We have built ourselves to the market-leading position. The main thing is that the prepositions we take to those markets are real. We are going there with credibility and track record that is known.

Microsoft unveiled datacentre services in South Africa, recently. The likes of Facebook, Google, and even Microsoft offer services in Nigeria. Do you think we are going to see enough Foreign Direct Investment in datacentres infrastructure in Nigeria?

The fact that Microsoft hasn’t announced they are opening something in Nigeria doesn’t mean they won’t be coming here. So, there will definitely be Foreign Direct Investments  to Nigeria. Our location is fantastic. The statistics shows that Facebook has over 24million daily users in Nigeria. That is the about half the population of South Africa. Let’s not worry, they will come.

Domestic investments in Data Centres, are they adequate?

The potential market is significant and we are working hard to secure the investments to meet the market demands as efficiently as possible. It is up to us to make sure we attract the right investments.  Our fundamentals indicate the fact that the demand is there. We are going to double capacity this year. After that, we are looking at even doubling that, and another location.

What is the next phase for Rack Centre?

The next thing for us is get the scale doubled. We are already a megawatts company. That is a good psychological step to scaling. We are doing very exciting thing with the infrastructure we got here. We are not standing still; we are moving up and upgrading because there are challenges and opportunities and we are continuously looking out for ways to innovate and be prepared for the new frontiers.