IX Africa's new Data Centre in Kenya

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Put simply, a data centre is a physical facility that houses information technology hardware for the following purposes:

1. Collecting Data 2. Storing Data 3. Processing Data 4. Distributing Data 5. Accessing Data

To support the Information technology hardware, the facility also houses electrical, mechanical, security and fire protection infrastructure which are critical to the operations of a data centre.

IX Africa is building one of the largest data centres in Africa. The facility, situated in Nairobi, Kenya, will target both target both local and global clients.

The organization reckons that data centres globally and Africa in particular, will continue to see tremendous IP traffic growth based on such factors as cloud computing, data residency laws, mobile data and compliance.

One of the leading architectural firms in Kenya, Triad Architects Ltd., was selected to spearhead the project.

According to Triad Architects, they received the client’s brief which outlined the size and shape of the structure.

“Unlike traditional buildings, a data center design is driven by function rather than form”, says Triad Architects. “The layout of equipment and their spatial requirements developed by the data centre engineers to meet specific performance parameters dictate the envelope design.” It took about nine months from the concept to developed design.

Although data centres are not new to Triad Architects having designed a few, Triad Architects says IX Africa Data Centre is the largest the firm has ever been involved with. They say that each data centre is unique with its own special requirements necessitating tailor-made considerations.

“As is with anything to do with technology, data centres are constantly evolving and newer technology is being adopted to meet spatial and performance requirements for the IT infrastructure”, they note. “However IX Africa has design similarities with the most recent and modern data centres in the world as dedicated to Hypercloud clients.”

IX Africa Builds Major Data Centre in Kenya

with Phase 1 occupying approximately 10,000.00sqm on 4.3 acres. In addition to offices, the development will have white spaces that will host the IT infrastructure such as servers, storage, network gear, racks, air-conditioning units and power distribution system. The grey spaces will host the back-end infrastructure that consists of switch-gear, UPS, transformers, chillers and generators.

The building has been designed with due consideration for users with physical impairment and has also adopted green concepts for sustainability. Solar water heating, photovoltaic and smart lighting, rain water harvesting and water conservation using low-flow sanitary fittings are some of the elements to this end.

The project broke ground in February, 2021 and is expected to be completed by December, 2021.

“During construction, our primary focus is to make sure the setting out, space sizes and established tolerances are met”, says Triad Architects. “The quality of construction is controlled and assured by selection of material, testing and regular inspection during construction.”