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Data Centre Infrastructure is Strategic to Developing Economy – Coker

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Ayotunde Coker is the managing director of Rack Centre a data centre operator. He spoke to Chike Onwuegbuchi on the importance of data centre infrastructure to a developing economy such as Nigeria.

How Strategic is Data Centre Infrastructure to Developing Economy like Nigeria?

It is a very strategic core-infrastructure for the economy. Why? The world is now a data economy and we live in a global ecosystem.

However, if there is lack of quality infrastructure to provide the hosting of data, it underpins everything that is done. So, if that infrastructure is available locally, sovereign data requirement can be met at the right quality.

For us to do what we do, we have to make sure we match the quality provided abroad. In fact, we exceed most of the qualities obtained outside the country and our achievements last year, both as a company and individuals, attest to that.

Secondly, the data centre is a hosting environment that supports the whole range of networks.

We know broadband penetration is key for economic development, but if there is no reliable data centre, locally, where will the broadband be hosted? Again, if there is no interconnectivity, there will be no internet access, which will have negative impact on the economy. Of course, internet access has positive impact on the economy.

Therefore, you start to get IT services at the endpoint of use, which drives growth in the economy. That is the rationale I used to say having very credible data centre infrastructure in the country in the right levels of quality is very strategic indeed.

That brings us to the question around certifications. If we agree a data centre is a critical, underpinning infrastructure for our data enabled economy, then, it is absolutely right that we have the highest quality. And a good sign of the quality is that the certified design is built.

Then, surely, we are interested in getting Nigeria noticed in the global comity of data centre facilities. Although, we have Nigerian sovereign data rules, which by any global standard, is in Nigeria’s  prerogative to have, however, there is still the need  to maintain the global standards which enables us to co-exist and connect to that global ecosystem.

There are still queries about whether the country has the capacity to meet up with the data centre needs locally

If you look at when we started; five and half years now – October 2013, we have been operating 100% uptime. We have also embarked on that journey to educate businesses executives that they not need to build a datacentre but to outsource their data centre requirements instead. Why? It takes time to build that trust- Rack Centre had maintained a 100% uptime, is highly secured, well respected have sterling track records with its customers.

Our customer ratings are consistently high- we are passionate about them and try everything to make sure they are satisfied. We never compromise customers satisfaction. It has been tough but rewarding journey to change the mind-set about trusting locally built infrastructure of this kind. We are proud of the profile we have created for Nigeria in the global data centre space. We still have some work to do- reason being that a lot of our customers collocate with us and they say, “ah, Mr. Coker when are you guys going to build another location,” I replied, “we are working that so we can even bring more footprints closer to you”.

Also, it takes a very brave Chief Technical Officer, CTO, or Chief Information Officer, CIO to walk up to the Board with the preposition of spending millions of Dollars on a data centre. The Board would say, “have you been to Rack Centre” if the CIO or CTO said, “well, I didn’t consider Rack Centre before making the proposal” the Board would say, “please, go consider Rack Centre”. Four years ago, we would be trying to convince customers to come try our facilities.

Today that has changed. We now receive referrals who are interested in colocation. Others who decided to build have sunk millions of dollars, capital that they could have used to improve on their business on the front-end. On quality, how many of those have you seen as properly certified? They have to sleep, wake up at night; think about 24-hours power supply, how to purchase diesel. They have to be worried about the quality of the facility for it to stay up. Speak to any of our customers, they sleep well at night.

Also, with Rack Centre, we deliver a fantastic ecosystem. Overtime, we have noticed that the customers that host with us tend to be very advanced and successful. Perhaps, there is something in the DNA that assisted them to come and host with us. The profile of customers we have here attests to it. Even those that are not successful yet are on the road to becoming successful businesses. So, they see the value in quality service we offer as against issues around cost or “I have to go build by own datacentre”.

Still on capacity, data is exploding and there are two sides to it: One, you can go host your data abroad; however, latency is now a problem. If you look at the connectivity – we have globally respected infrastructure here. It means you don’t need to go abroad to host your data and suffer the latency impact.

How Scalable is Rack Centre?

We are scalable. We doubled our capacity in 2016. We are actually doubling our capacity again. In terms of power supply, we have 1.5megawatts and with the landmass we can build 8-10megawatts. We are also looking at another location in Lagos because our customers are asking for it. We also offer colocation; you don’t have to go abroad for that too.

About three years ago, we launched Cloud-on-Ground service and we have been building that ecosystem, because we realised that part of the reasons people may want to host abroad is due to thirst for cloud-based services. So, by having that reputation, even international companies that have cloud services can partner with us.

So, any company that tells you, “oh, I can’t host my data in Nigeria because services are not available,” can now confidently do that. In the time and journey, we have been, we able to provide support and requirements for colocation for local data hosting and content. The other issue  is that as the local content policies are been enforced, we can assure that the capacity to meet the demand is here in Nigeria.

Service for the SMEs

Yes, that is something that has been missing in the past. SMEs are the heart of the economy. They need access to affordable hosting. That is why we are making footprints in smaller clouds; I mean, this is a key national infrastructure and the SMEs should enjoy local hosting. It will allow us to transform access to IT services offered by SMEs. For instance, if a FinTech company hosts with us, it implies they have locally hosted services to offer the banked or unbanked among us. As their customer-base grows they take more footprints with us.

Now, there are other SMEs that I call the professionals- lawyers, doctors, accountants, consulting firms – start-ups, they need to have efficient IT, because they also need big data. The more we can deliver that to them in an efficient manner, here, the more efficient they become and such services will have significant impact on the GDP of the country.

Issues Around Certification of Data Centres

The best known one is the Uptime Institute (UI) which is a global authority in datacentre quality assessment, training, and setting of best practices guides. They are based in the UK, but a part of US company.  That’s the Institute we used for our certification. There is also the TIA in the US.

These bodies offer certifications on different tiers-I-IV The most popular and commercially viable is the Tier III. Some companies would want a datacentre to be constructed and certified to Tier IV; which is mainly for special purposes. But the Tier III is what most commercial datacentres go for.

Rack Centre positioning as Datacentre Leader in the Sub-Saharan Africa

We are doing a lot. It is an interesting market. I would like to put this in perspective: are we competing with datacentres in South Africa or do we offer better services than they do? I am confident that we are as good as and better than many in South Africa. Scale-wise, yes, they have been active for longer years, but I really do believe we will catch-up and even exceed them. We are the biggest economy in Africa. Lagos State itself is the fifth largest economy by GDP in Africa. And there are other exciting statistics about the Continent that give us that confidence.

However, the reason I wouldn’t say we are competing with South Africa is this: there is a scale in South Africa, but Rack Centre as Tier III is the most connected datacentre now, certainly, in Sub-Saharan Africa.

We believe in Africa. Why? The five undersea cables are directly connected to Rack Centre with about 32 Carriers connected to us. You can reach anywhere in Nigeria; with the four telecom companies we have in Rack Centre, we have most telecom masts in Nigeria connected here.

So, the opportunity for us to deliver the Edge Datacentre Services (EDS) is huge. Every country on the Atlantic coast of Africa is directly connected to us. The two, of those undersea cables, especially the WACC connect from here to South Africa. So, we connect to South Africa seamlessly.

It is a fantastic opportunity to cooperate with South Africa because we connect with datacentres there at low latency. We can deliver services in partnership with some operators there.

Presently, South Africa accounts for 50% of the datacentre (scale) capacity in Africa according to a study by XALAM Analytics, but the potential for Nigeria is huge and significant-if you look at the certifications we have had, the way we are regarded by our customers and the global industry, we are regarded as the premium.

With regards to global recognitions, 2018 was remarkable for us both in Nigeria and internationally as a Leading Datacentre; we were finalists in Datacentre Solutions in the UK (two categories).

In Monaco, last June, we were finalists in two categories too: Best Datacentre in Geophysical location; we won the geophysical location (representing Nigeria). This is against global competitors. In September we were at the Global Carrier Awards in London. We were finalists – Best Datacentre and we won the Best Datacentre innovation, these were global accolades.

Then, I was also given a Trail Blazer Award by the Uptime Institute in July 2018. It is an award given to a person, in a region annually.  Just last month, I got another recognition, the Data Economy magazine top 200 personalities in the world, but I feel much proud about our Chief Engineer, Sunday Opadijo who won the Data Centre Dynamics, Datacentre Manager of the Year, against the world’s best.

I am very proud of that, because this is a young man who went to the University here in Nigeria; he has worked here and he is fantastic. He has been key part of our team. We entered him for the entries and he came top three and went in for the final and adjudged the best by a global jury in the UK.

So, when we talk about Rack Centre being a Premium Datacentre in Africa, it is very validated. The examples of our global ecosystem show that recognition, and our customers attest to it. You know why-one being that those awards are results of validations of our customers, not only indigenous, but also international ones.


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E-Business

Transcorp Hotels Delivers Stellar H1 Results, Declares Over ₦1Bn Dividend

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Transcorp Hotels Plc has delivered a stellar performance in the first half of 2025, recording a 60% year-on-year surge in revenue to ₦47.57 billion, up from ₦29.72 billion in H1 2024. Gross profit climbed 71% to ₦36.21 billion, maintaining a strong 76% margin despite inflation and operational headwinds.

The hospitality giant, a subsidiary of Transnational Corporation Plc, also announced an interim dividend payout of ₦1.024 billion — offering ₦0.10 per 50 kobo ordinary share to shareholders.

In a bold move, the company unveiled Nigeria’s largest corporate venue — the 5,000-seat Transcorp Centre — staking its claim as the new leader in event hospitality. Chairman Emmanuel Nnorom described the results as proof of Transcorp Hotels’ transformative strategies and unwavering investor commitment. MD/CEO Uzo Oshogwe attributed the success to relentless execution and a resilient business model.

Transcorp Hotels, renowned for iconic assets like Transcorp Hilton Abuja and its digital platform Aura, says it isn’t just leading Nigeria’s hospitality sector — it’s redefining excellence across Africa.


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Microsoft Servers Hacked by Chinese Groups

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Chinese “threat actors” have hacked Microsoft’s SharePoint document software servers and targeted the data of the businesses using it, the firm has said.

Microsoft Servers Hacked by Chinese Groups

 

China state-backed Linen Typhoon and Violet Typhoon as well as China-based Storm-2603 were said to have “exploited vulnerabilities” in on-premises SharePoint servers, the kind used by firms, but not in its cloud-based service.

The US tech giant has released security updates in response and has advised all on-premises SharePoint server customers to install them.

“Investigations into other actors also using these exploits are still ongoing,” Microsoft said in a statement.

The firm said it had “high confidence” the hackers would continue to target systems which have not installed its security updates.

It added that it would update its website blog with more information as its investigation continues.

Microsoft said it had observed attacks in which hackers had sent a request to a SharePoint server “enabling the theft of the key material by threat actors”.

Charles Carmakal, chief technology officer at Mandiant Consulting firm, a division of Google Cloud, told reporter, it was “aware of several victims in several different sectors across a number of global geographies”.

Carmakal said it appeared that governments and businesses that use SharePoint on their sites were the primary target.

A number of adversaries who stole material encoded by cryptography were then able to regain ongoing access to the victims’ SharePoint data, he said.

“This was exploited in a very broad way, very opportunistically before a patch was made available. That’s why this is significant,” Carmakal said.

Carmakal said the “China-nexus actor” was deploying techniques similar to previous campaigns associated with Beijing.

Microsoft said Linen Typhoon had “focused on stealing intellectual property, primarily targeting organizations related to government, defence, strategic planning, and human rights” for 13 years.

It added that Violet Typhoon had been “dedicated to espionage”, primarily targeting former government and military staff, non-governmental organizations, think tanks, higher education, the media, the financial sector and the health sector in the US, Europe, and East Asia.

Meanwhile, Storm-2603 was “assessed with medium confidence to be a China-based threat actor”.

 

 

 


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NIMC Warns Nigerians of Fake NIN Website

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National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has issued a public warning that it is not associated with NINcard.com.

NIMC Warns Nigerians of Fake NIN Website

According to the commission, the website has been circulating online to offer services for Nigerians seeking National Identification Number (NIN) services.

NIMC, in a post on its official X account on Wednesday, said, “NINcard.com is not in anyway affiliated to NIMC. Stay vigilant!”

The warning was accompanied by screenshots of fake payment receipts and OTP request pages from the website, both of which were boldly stamped “FAKE” by NIMC to alert the public.


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