E-Business
Cloud Services Key to SME Survival in Nigeria – Coker
Ayotunde Coker is the managing director of Rack Centre a data centre operator; spoke to Chike Onwuegbuchi on the impact of cloud services to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) survival in Nigeria.
What has been Rack Centre’s experience with regards to marketing your services to SMEs? Do you actually have services (packages) that have direct impact on SMEs’ operations?
That is why cloud is very important. I don’t think we are fully there yet. It is a journey we have been on for a couple of years. We will continue to work with all the big players on how to make the cloud available.
It is not just SMEs that benefit from the cloud; all of the corporates do. The oil and gas companies have to host data in Nigeria; government should host data in Nigeria. Now, we have the facilities that are as good as anywhere else in the world. Rack Centre, we have won global awards in the last two years even this year we have won a Data Centre Award, keeping company with some of the big European companies. So, we are recognised as being good as they are.
I was awarded the Uptime Institute Trailblazer award this year. It is given to a person in a region for driving data centre progress.
So, the fundamentals are there that we have what it takes to host cloud services here. Therefore, we are telling companies that you can now meet the regulatory requirements to host your data locally. We are making sure that the right bodies are aware that we are ready to host; not just co-location, but cloud services that are available for private, public or hybrid. When you host here, performance is better; because we are home-grown, you know how to easily reach us if there were issues to be dealt with. The entry points are comparable and reliable.
I don’t believe Nigerians should accept substandard services because such product or service was home-grown. By that we will be embedding mediocrity. But if we have something that is validated by the whole world, our job is to make people aware of that.
Coming back to SMEs; I am aware that we have to market to that segment, and the broader SMEs too. It will happen with time. We are making good progress in that regards too, working with global brands.
Even IXPN has supported the claims that most companies now host locally, but those with huge traffic like videos are still finding it difficult to host in-country. How can this be addressed?
First of all, Muhammad Rudman is performing a great leadership role through Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN). We are also very pleased to be involved in the drives too, because we host IXPN. We also host the regional IXP for West Africa, which we did in conjunction with IXPN to win the mandate.
For us, we are scaling; in the next six months the upper side of the data centre will come up stream. Next year the next building will be erected.
The other thing is that we have most of the carriers connected to Rack Centre because we are carrier-neutral. About 27 IXPs are connected to Rack Centre. Every one of the five undersea cables is connected directly to Rack Centre. That means that every country on the Atlantic Coast in Africa is directly connected to Lagos. That is why I am saying we have the basic infrastructure in place which enables us to provide hosting services for both large and small cloud services consumers.
For instance, there is no need for any University to build a small data centre or server room somewhere. If we deliver the cloud services to them, they can become more efficient at cheaper cost. A student can afford to buy a mobile phone and the data credit; you can as well buy some cloud services to help your studies.
Moving forward, do you think the traditional data centres should exist alongside cloud or should the industry just focus on cloud infrastructure and services?
They will co-exist because cloud has to sit in a data centre somewhere. The key thing about cloud is the availability. That is why being Tier III certified is very important. Also, if there are cloud service providers coming to Nigeria, they will need a data centre to host it. So, you cannot separate the cloud from the data centre. For smaller companies, it is natural now for them to use cloud while big companies still need servers, they put in data centres like ours that is reliable.
In essence, big companies would like to have private cloud and still play in the public cloud space which is referred to as hybrid model. But the MSMES will adopt cloud facilities, the SMEs will go for pay-as-you-go cloud services.
Cloud-based apps and IoT are evolving in this market. Do you think Nigeria can keep pace with these developments?
One thing is clear- technological development will not wait for any nation or people. To me, Nigeria should and Nigeria can! However, we just have to make it happen, our policy direction will drive people’s and businesses’ approach to it. For instance, we should adopt a systematic approach to getting broadband access happen. If a State is gearing towards that, let’s grant them some incentives. The Federal Government can say if your broadband penetration gets to 50% you State will get incentives. It can happen in such manner that the benefits such States will get will compete with whatever revenue they may think they can get from hiking prices of Right-of-Way (RoW) or any other infrastructural levies on telecoms. Because it has proven that economies that succeed in adopting technology have the base connectivity around broadband. So, any State in Nigeria that thinks they can develop without necessarily broadband services, it is not going to happen.
We are innovating and developing the technologies that can help them achieve that, and we need to make sure people have access to such technologies.
We have the population and demographics that shows this thing is bound to happen here. As we put the basics in place, we should be able to keep pace with the technological advancements across the world.
Why? People thought mobile telephony won’t be successful in Africa; people won’t be able to afford it. Look at what has happened now- it defied every nay-sayings. Also, for about three years now the shipments and manufacturing of smartphones has exceeded the number of ‘feature’ phones. I also believe that the largest access to computing is going to be through mobile (phones). It is a technology that revolves around security- video cctv (close-circuit television), linking to new technologies that allow the police to be more efficient. These things have to be in a control centre somewhere- a data centre that is available 100% of the time.
Well, you have shared insights to what Rack Centre is doing in this regard, but in a situation, others aren’t following the same step, and not at the same pace, can we still achieve that?
I can tell you about Rack Centre. Our intention is to scale at the right level. We are looking at multiple locations across Nigeria maintaining the same quality.
I think it is good for the country that we have multiple players that enable the technology that we are putting in place. We have a few telcos that provide services.
When are you looking at building in other locations?
We have six geo-physical zones in Nigeria. Lagos is big enough to have another location, especially along Lagos-Ogun corridor. There is a lot for us to deliver at the second location. Abuja is also of interest. We are looking at that area seriously; and one other location to help us interconnect.
We are doing it in a phased-manner. The first thing is that we have anchored our stay here in Oregun; the next thing is to build on that to make sure that we scale.
The good thing about our modular model is that we can scale very quickly. You see, South African scaling happened significantly in the last six years. So, we are making sure that we support the scale that will happen not just in Nigeria, but also elsewhere in West Africa.
There are about 400 hyperscale datacentres across the word. Do you think Nigeria, Africa needs them at this point in time?
Well, Rack Centre would like to become a hyperscale datacentre, but there is something called edge. In power terms, you can say these hyperscale’s can generate 30 or up to 40megawatts of electricity. There are few of them in the United States and UK that generate up to 100megawatts equivalent. At the edge, it implies the data centre can deliver the cloud services itself.
In Africa, we have to ensure there are data centres that support these hyperscale’s. Rack Centre already falls in that category. At this location we can develop to 9megawatts of power. So, we are already a ‘scale’. In such environment, you don’t just bring everything at the same time. It is like building a community of flats; you start with a set and continue to building one after another till the job is done. But you can already say you are going to have a community of 2000 flats. That is the analogy for what we are doing here. We can build that scale that can support West Africa. Remember, I said that every country along the coast (Africa) is connected to Lagos.
So, we will see large scale coming in. I know of a Data Centre in Russia that was expanding at a reasonable, Alibaba goes in there and suddenly it become a hyperscale.
So, I won’t rule it out that we are going to have a hyperscale in Africa. I also envisage what I call Mega-Midi-Micro approach to data centres. Rack Centre stands a mega, but there will be other locations that are midi, because they deliver solutions to locations, likewise the micro sites. What matters is to have efficient monitoring process that will allow us to stay connected. It is quite a good technology innovation, putting this kind of infrastructure in place.
How would you rate the level of awareness of Nigerians with regards the availability of cloud services in locations like Rack Centre?
Let assume you have mobile telephony- you started with voicing and subsequently add data services; the same scenario is applicable in data centre operations. You can host websites here; take cloud services. It is like being a car dealer with different makes. So, even in a multiple car showroom, you go in and decide which one to buy. This is same thing is playing out here.
As the facilities are available, we will market and put in significant efforts to push the narration. We are not just creating awareness in our immediate environment; we are taking it global. It starts from home to regional and global approach.
Do you think there is need for data centres in Africa like Rack Centre to collaborate with global players like Microsoft?
Of course, collaboration is already happening. The global players are already looking at collaborating more. We are having specific discussions and implementations with the global brands in this space.
What will this market benefit from such collaborations?
First, I am not worried about bringing other experiences across the world. If the right person we need to work with is from Australia, I will bring that person, because through that, skills will be transferred to 10 other Nigerians. I will not compromise quality by putting the wrong Nigerian to do the right job.
Having said that, I am happy to let you know that our employees are fully Nigerians. My philosophy is not Nigeria at any cost
Why? My background before I came back in 2009, I was an expert in Britain, United States, Switzerland, Singapore. I worked in different countries because I was the right person for the job. That is the way the world is. It is better for one person to come in and create 40,000 jobs than for the wrong person to destroy 40,000 jobs. I also rephrase it this way: Nigerians here are as good as anyone else in another country.
We also have to make sure that we use the right technologies. We don’t have them here at the moment; so, we have to import. We have technologies here from UK, US, and home-grown technologies too, so, we have a heterogeneous mix of technologies to deliver the services we have.
So, through collaborations, they deliver technologies that help us offer efficient services. Same time, we deliver cloud services that are unique to us.
Therefore, we should encourage collaboration, because what matters is the output. It is better for us that the likes of Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, etc, prefer to invest here to any other country. The systemic impact will be quite significant.
Cloud-on-Ground
When we came up with that idea, it was to reflect the Nigerian parlance- ‘man on ground’. You know, when someone gets a new job people would say, ‘hey, this person is on ground’. It was a spin on that- when you say ‘Cloud-on-Ground’ it is a reassuring statement that the cloud service we offer you is hosted here in Nigeria. We are not offering you gateway to go consume cloud elsewhere.
While we held unto that we also realised that the world is an interconnected place. And because we are carrier neutral, we have content distribution networks here, so, we can actually link to the cloud services anywhere in the world.
But, fundamentally, you know your cloud applications are resident here in Lagos, Nigeria.
What are your data recovery plans?
You know, we are in a journey and it is evolving. We have a core platform here, but you will find multiple locations that give us the resilience as back up. Our present clients are even seeing us as their backup because they trust the infrastructure we have built. Cloud-on-Ground also gives us the reassurance about backup just like there are others in West Africa.
Do you envisage companies from other African countries hosting their data here?
We already host companies from Benin Republic. In Ghana we have partners that are Pan-Africa, they host here too. We really do connect Africa. We have companies here that deliver services to the whole of Africa. That is why we believe, systematically, it is beneficial for us to have another location in West Africa. Some clients are already envisaging that. We are at fantastic tipping point; that is why we are moving to those facilities that are available.
When are you likely to commission the new facilities coming up?
We are in advanced stages of the designs. We are moving in to construction. In the next few weeks Nigerians will know about it when we are ready. We are looking at middle of next year. Presently, we have 550 racks. The power capacity-waiting will be 1.5megawatts, which is a good indication of scale from the original 9megawatts we have.
Kaspersky’s latest survey highlights a protection gap between macOS and Windows based devices. While macOS has long been regarded as the more secure operating system, 12% of its users reported malware infections compared with 9% of Windows users. Moreover, only 35% of macOS owners install dedicated security software, versus 42% of Windows users.
According to Kaspersky’s latest global survey*, Windows users report a higher adoption rate for most security measures, while macOS users show a modest advantage in a few privacy‑focused actions. At the same time, during the past year macOS users reported higher percentages than Windows users for a number of cybersecurity incidents.
The largest gap in cybersecurity approaches appears in the habit of not opening suspicious emails or links, with 62% of Windows users following this practice compared to 51% of macOS users.
What’s more, when it comes to cybersecurity software installation, macOS users are also lagging behind. While among Windows users 42% reported using digital‑life‑protection software, for macOS this rate is only 35%, what Kaspersky security experts call a worryingly low figure.
It is noteworthy that 12% of macOS respondents said they fell victim to phishing (fake emails, websites or messages) over the past year compared with 9% of Windows users. Moreover, during this period macOS users faced more scams and investment frauds (16% vs 13%), privacy violations (11% vs 8%) and thefts of personal data (12% vs 7%).
To counter these specific threats, robust anti-malware and anti-phishing protection is essential. Malware authors put a lot of effort into developing new, more powerful and stealthier versions of stealers, spies and other classes of malicious payloads, while relying on phishing techniques that allows them to get access to user’s data.
Dedicated security solutions add a crucial layer of real-time detection and defence that complements macOS’s built-in protection – and independent tests have repeatedly shown that effective options, such as Kaspersky Premium for macOS, deliver strong protection. In 2025, AV-TEST recognised it as the top-performing macOS security solution based on consistent, reliable results across a full year of evaluations.
When it comes to credentials and passwords safety, Windows users also show better security practices’ adoption rates. They lead in using a unique password for each account (38% vs 35%) and complex passwords (52% vs 45%), two‑factor or multi‑factor authentication (51% vs 46%).
Adopting a dedicated password manager becomes a logical next step. Such tools store all credentials in a secure vault protected by a single master password, eliminating the need to remember hundreds of passwords while keeping them safe from breaches.
They also support modern authentication methods like passkeys, enabling seamless, single-tap sign-in across all devices through secure synchronisation – capabilities offered by solutions such as Kaspersky Password Manager.
“There are entrenched stereotypes that macOS is inherently more secure because its user base is smaller, leading cyber‑criminals to deem it a lower‑value target, or because the platform itself includes many robust security features. While these observations are not entirely unfounded, the threat landscape has evolved dramatically.
Attackers actively employ phishing and commit supply chain attacks, which often allow them to affect users of any operating system in a single malware campaign. Moreover, mac specific malware is not rare and there are many malware families that target macs exclusively. Consequently, any device with an Internet connection, regardless of its operating system or form factor, requires cybersecurity software to defend against a wide range of cyber threats,” comments Sergey Puzan, cybersecurity expert at Kaspersky.
E-Business
Cyber Resilience a Critical Priority for Manufacturing Amid Rapid Digitalization – Report Shows
As 60% of manufacturers race toward full digitalisation, cyber risk is increasingly manifesting as a business risk, according to a new global report by Kaspersky and VDC Strategy.
This means cybersecurity is not merely a compliance function, it is a cornerstone of production assurance, safeguarding uptime, quality, and operational continuity.
Manufacturers are modernising to deliver safer, more consistent and more cost-effective production and digitalization is moving fast: just 9% of organisations describe themselves as fully digital today, but 60% expect to get there within two years, according to the joint report by Kaspersky and VDC, titled ‘Cyber Resilience, Built for Manufacturing’.
That shift links shop-floor equipment, production lines and site operations to platforms such as Manufacturing execution systems (MES), Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) and historians, turning many plants into cyber-physical systems (CPS), where a digital disruption doesn’t stay digital. It can slow production lines, quarantine work in progress, invalidate traceability records, or halt production outright.
What’s driving manufacturing digitalization?
Manufacturers are digitising for measurable operational gains, not novelty. Survey respondents identified the primary drivers of their digital transformation strategy as:
- Improving production output or efficiency (24%)
- Reducing operational or production expenses (15%)
- Enabling new strategic opportunities (14%)
- Improving cyber resilience (13%)
The same connected systems that unlock these gains, including MES, IIoT sensors, automated material handling, remote engineering access, also become the systems that determine whether production can be trusted to keep running.
Cyber risk is now a business risk
Cyber risk has evolved from a mere IT concern to a direct threat to revenue generation, as environments transform into cyber-physical systems. In these integrated settings, digital disruptions like malware no longer just affect data, they can cause unsafe operations, scrapped batches, and halted production on the plant floor. This shift highlights the urgent need to treat cybersecurity as a key part of operational resilience.
According to the report, nearly 60% of manufacturing organisations estimate that cyber incidents cause damages exceeding $1 million per event, with an average disruption of 15.3 hours. The most significant losses often result from production halts, missed delivery commitments, and penalties, rather than just forensic costs.
In this context, downtime links cybersecurity risks to overall business performance. Cyber incidents can reduce Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), strain staffing, and disrupt supply chains. Recovery involves more than system restore, it requires re-establishing confidence in process parameters, quality records, and traceability before resuming operations.
Mature cybersecurity programs now incorporate OT security into governance, focusing on metrics valued by production leaders such as time to restore, backup confidence, legacy asset coverage, and safe degraded operation. This alignment ensures cybersecurity supports continuous production and resilience, not just IT compliance.
However, challenges remain due to split ownership. While 59% of organisations’ IT departments manage security policies, these often overlook plant realities. Managing many security tools (44%) and OT patching issues (38%) show that cybersecurity must be embedded into daily routines of production, engineering, and quality teams. Only through such integration can cybersecurity effectively enhance operational reliability and defend against evolving threats.
“As manufacturing environments become increasingly interconnected, cybersecurity shifts focus from merely adding protective layers to ensuring the availability, resilience, and integrity of production processes. The goal is to minimise operational impact and speed up recovery, rather than solely preventing intrusions.
“Kaspersky offers a unified ecosystem that integrates IT, OT, and IIoT security, empowering manufacturers to pursue digital transformation securely. This strategy helps maintain operational continuity and reduces long-term cybersecurity costs,” comments Andrey Strelkov, Head of Industrial Cybersecurity Product Line at Kaspersky.
To implement this strategy, manufacturing companies can leverage solutions from the Kaspersky OT Cybersecurity Ecosystem, centered around Kaspersky Industrial CyberSecurity (KICS), a native Extended Detection and Response platform designed for critical infrastructure protection. KICS enables centralised detection and response to complex attacks across the entire industrial network, ensuring comprehensive visibility and security.
Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has commenced a forensic investigation into the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Lotus Bank and Hackerbella Ltd over alleged violations of data protection laws involving students’ personal information.
The investigation follows public complaints alleging that students’ personal data were used to open bank accounts without a lawful basis.
Dr Vincent Olatunji, national commissioner and chief executive officer of the NDPC, directed the investigation team to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the circumstances surrounding the collection, processing, use and disclosure of the affected students’ personal data.
The investigation will also determine the respective roles and responsibilities of UNILAG, Lotus Bank and Hackerbella in the alleged processing of the data.
According to the Commission, the investigation will assess the data protection compliance obligations of the parties under the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023 (NDP Act), as well as potential risks posed to the rights and freedoms of the affected data subjects.
The NDPC said the probe would cover several areas, including Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs), the lawfulness and transparency of credit scoring or profiling activities, and the use of automated decision-making systems.
It will also examine the adequacy of privacy notices, data-sharing arrangements, lawful bases for processing, data minimisation and purpose limitation.
Other areas include data retention policies and the adequacy of technical and organisational measures put in place to safeguard the rights and personal data of affected students.
The Commission reiterated that institutions entrusted with the personal data of students, staff and other members of their communities have a heightened responsibility to ensure that such information is processed lawfully, fairly, transparently and securely.
The NDPC therefore warned educational institutions that are yet to comply with its existing data protection compliance directives to take immediate steps to achieve compliance.
The Commission said it would continue to exercise its regulatory mandate to protect the privacy rights of Nigerians and ensure that organisations processing personal data comply with the provisions of the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023.
Airtel Nigeria Adds Over 1,000Cell Sites in Nationwide Expansion to Surpasses 17,000
MacOS Users Report More Cyber Threats than Windows Users – Survey Reveals
Mastercard, TeamApt Collaborate to Expand Digital Payments Across Africa
Access Holdings Sets New Benchmark in Nigeria’s Finance Talent Pipeline
ESUT Workers Get N82,000 Minimum Wage as Enugu Approves Fresh Salary Increase
EFCC Busts NIS Visa Overstay Racket, Uncovers N700m in an Account
Fact-Check: Elon Musk’s “Tesla Pi Phone” is Internet Rumor
NBC Tasks Broadcasting Stations over 2028 DSO Global Deadline
NBC Scraps Annual Digital Access Fee on DSO
Glo Sponsored African Voices to Feature Netflix’s “The Polygamist” Stars
Telecom3 days agoipNX Joins Calls for Innovation-Friendly Ecosystem and Stronger Local Opportunities at Regenesys AI Summit
E-Business3 days agoNDPC Probes UNILAG, Lotus Bank, Hackerbella over Alleged Students’ Data Misuse
E-Financial3 days agoKudiWave Asks for Clarification over N750m Transfer from PalmPay Account
News3 days agoPalmPay Reinforces Commitment to Youth Empowerment on International Youth Day
Telecom3 days agoNCC Reports over 5,000 Fibre Cuts in 6 Months
Telecom3 days agoGoogle Selects Six Nigerian News Creators for Emerging Voices Growth Lab
E-Financial3 days agoNigerians Borrow More to Buy Homes as Mortgage Demand Climbs – CBN
General News3 days agoNUPRC Warns of Counterfeit, AI-Generated Appointment Letters