Cloud computing has been described as the future of the IT world in terms of data storage and security. Folu Aderibigbe, chief sales and marketing officer, MainOne, West Africa’s leading telecommunication service company stated this during his presentation at the last Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation’s (CTO) Forum held in Abuja, Nigeria.
Speaking under the broad theme: ‘Cloud, Connectivity and Communications’, and exploring the benefits of cloud computing, Aderibigbe stated that “Cloud computing presents a more economical way of implementing IT services as it enables a pay-per-use service model, lower capital costs, predictable recurring expenses, and provides business flexibility. In addition to this, deployment of the service is easy since it utilises service provider resources.”
The MainOne executive noted that global market for cloud computing is growing in leaps. According to him, “globally, 30 per cent of IT budgets in 2013 will be spent on cloud computing.”
Aderibigbe described MainOne as a major driver of cloud computing in West Africa as it carries traffic for the major West African, Nigerian and Ghana based telecom operators, ISPs and Enterprises.
In addition, MainOne is building a 600 rack world class data centre that is TIA (telecommunication industry Association) 942 Tier 3 compliant in the Lekki Peninsula (Lagos) corridor to further address cloud opportunities.
The company’s data centre is also the only one in West Africa in partnership with the International Data Centre Group of 200+ carriers and 33 Data centres across the globe.
Another cloud initiative of MainOne is the i-HQ project; an innovation hub launched in partnership with the Lagos State Innovation Council and ccHub which will provide enhanced connectivity to schools, health centres, businesses and government agencies in the Yaba area of Lagos.
MainOne offers telecommunications services which include, global internet access and global IP transit, MPLS, metro Ethernet, global video connect, data center, co-location, and managed services.