A US$ 8.3m data centre is set to be constructed in Kenya

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A US$ 8.3m data centre is set to be developed in Nairobi, Kenya by a group of Kenyan investors under the trade name Icolo.io.

The project which is situated on land leased from Catholic University of Eastern Africa is being erected on 27,000 square feet  will be completed by the end of 2017 and is set to be constructed in two phases.

Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Ranjith Cherickel confirmed the news and said that the construction of the data centre will be developed in phases, the first phase will have a capacity of 42 racks while the second will have a capacity of 240 racks.

“Construction of the new mega centre will be created in two phases, the first phase having a capacity of 42 racks and the second having 240 racks,” Mr. Cherickel said.

This is the second centre the firm is constructing after breaking ground last year in Mombasa, where it started the construction of another data centre worth US$ 6m.

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Mr. Cherickel also pointed out that already 40 companies have shown interest in taking space at the data centre once it is complete.

“We already have three companies that have confirmed their interest in taking space at the data centre and we will be negotiating three to five year contracts with them,” Cherickel said.

These companies are Aryaka, a company known for offering cloud caching solution, Node Africa, and a local bank. In Mombasa, the icolo.io boss said they were targeting about 30 companies, but they have not registered any interests yet. He said that the Mombasa data centre has a capacity of 226 racks.

The CEO also said that icolo.io was particularly targeting major banks in Kenya that have found it difficult and expensive to construct their own data centres preferring to outsource.