Ayotunde Coker is the managing director of Rack Centre a data centre operator; he spoke to Nigeria CommunicationsWeek on the recent expansion of Rack Centre facility which enables it to offer commercial cloud computing services in Africa.

Cloud Computing and security. Do you think Nigeria, or Africa has the capacity to secure the data centres to guarantee local hosting of data?

Africa is ready for cloud. First, Data Centre business has been developing in Africa for few years now. I am delighted that Rack Centre is here in Nigeria; well-respected African brand. That is a good way to start.  We are certified to the highest tier level- the Uptime Institute. We are the first and only Carrier Neutral to be Tier III Constructed in Africa.

In Nigeria, there are two Data Centres companies that are certified constructed commercial facilities, the only country in Africa with such infrastructure. That is not a bad start. If you look at statistics South Africa has made an incredible start with Data Centres. The amount of capacity (that is ‘built’) available in South Africa is 50% of what is available in the rest of African countries. This is based on analysis by XALAM. It shows that there is a significant of untapped opportunity in the rest of Africa.

So, as a brand, we are prepared: we are scaling, doubling our capacity; certified to ISO 27:2001 and other certifications that give global bodies the confidence to do business with us.

Coming back to Africa; is the Continent ready for Cloud? Africa is ready for co-location and ready for cloud computing. We have seen the wave of what is happening in the use of technology- agriculture, for instance, start-ups and other big businesses are been created in this sector. I intentionally did not use FinTech’s, because it is not just about fintech (though they are very important). Technology is transforming banks, agriculture, oil and gas in Africa. Technology will be key in transforming government (e-government). States like Lagos are embarking on very crucial e-government initiatives.

So, there is a big room for co-location. Now, cloud needs data centres; if it is not in Nigeria it is elsewhere. A lot of African companies have been consuming cloud technology. But they have been consuming it abroad. Even a lot of them host their websites abroad. We have been hosting our website here in Rack Centre for about two years now and no downtime. So, we have started to see the shift

In Africa there is what I call the “Sachet Economy.” You know, people often won’t buy a packet of cigarettes; they will buy two sticks. They won’t buy a litre of milk but rather a small packet. Even water; they prefer to buy the sachets. And it has been very successful. But if you add the quantity of the sachet inside an empty bottle, the cost is about 50% higher; but that is what they can buy.

The only way you can turn IT to meet needs of the sachet economy is, first, to co-locate. Secondly, adopt cloud computing. Cloud enables you to buy what you need and consume and buy more as you grow or scale up. You don’t need to acquire big server when you only need 10% of it. There are a quite number of applications people want to use that require cloud, so cloud is what you can use to deliver services to the sachet economy.

An interesting part to it: if you look at Nigeria, one of the problems of consuming technology from abroad is due to latency. That ‘delay’ is annoying and it affects customer experience. Critical facilities hosted here take away that latency. And now you have Internet of Things (IoT) which requires quick ‘interactions. So, you host it closer to the point of consumption.

For instance, Nigeria’s population is near 200 million with a blessing of young middle-age (18-25 years); the age of consuming data. We also have a significant number of SMEs. If you add Micros businesses, they are about 35 million. So, 20 million SMEs (based on estimates that have been given over the last two years, the figure is more than the population of Belgium, Netherlands and Norway combined.

There will consume data if the services are available. Therefore, all we have to do is deliver cloud services. We have started doing that in Rack Centre. We bring down the threshold of the cost of access to technology through cloud services.

There is another angle to the SMEs. I call them the SMEs of the Professions- (every SME should be professional anyway). By SMEs of the Professions, I mean the accountants, doctors, engineering companies, law firms, etc. They are significant and need access to the right technologies at the right price. That is what cloud can provide.

Then, Nigerian broadband penetration is around 24% out of the target of 30% for this year. And there is still promise that we should hit the target before the end of this year. Now, as that continues grow alongside 4G LTE availability, it is really going to become an enabler to businesses.

So, from our point of view, our business is to going to transform the efficiency of the SMEs and it will impact the economy positively.

Cloud technology and data centre inter-relate and have the potential to transform our economy. It makes the SMEs, for instance, more efficient and productive and directly impacts the country’s GDP.

Your recent election as the Secretary General of African Datacentre Association (ADCA).

Actually, the Association was inaugurated early this year and there is a history to it. Last year, I was speaking at the Datacentre Conference in Morocco. We made a comment that Africa needs a Datacentre Association just like they have in Europe, because this is key infrastructure for Africa. The continent has chosen to leapfrog development using technology. So, we need to get the holistic view to build the industry and a voice for the industry in Africa.

So, one of the gentlemen there, Paul-Francois Cattier, MD (West Africa for Schneider Electric, Ivory Coast took on the task; to drive it. I met him at the Africa CEO Conference and he laid down some progressive reports and it took me just five minutes to say yes; we really have to make this happen.

We got calls from top leaders around Africa who aligned with the vision. Therefore, the Association was incorporated in West Africa (Ivory Coast). We then went on and launched it as African Datacentre Association at the Data Centre Conference in Morocco. which is a good indication of the importance of Africa in the global space in terms of cloud technology. It was a successful event.

We will be hiring an MD to operate the ADCA Secretariat. Also, the representation cuts across the entire continent. The Board has   Fatoumata Sarr Dieng of Sonatel Orange (Senegal) as the President. It is mixture of Francophone and Anglophone speaking countries; a good balance and pan-African representation.

I am delighted that we got it going and to have taken a role as the Secretary General. It is an honour.