Raxio Ethiopia (ET1), located in the ICT Park on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, represents a critical cornerstone in the nation’s digital transformation as Ethiopia’s first private, carrier-neutral Tier III data center facility. Formally opened in late 2023, the facility offers a total capacity of up to 3MW of IT power and space for 800 racks, engineered with full component redundancy and concurrent maintainability to guarantee an operational uptime of 99.98%. Towards the end of 2024, the site officially achieved its formal Tier III Facility Certification from the Uptime Institute, confirming that its power, cooling, and security architecture strictly comply with global standardizations.
As part of the broader Pan-African expansion strategy under Raxio Group, the overall platform’s committed capital surpassed $380 million following equity injections from lead shareholders Roha and Meridiam, along with a $100 million debt package from the International Finance Corporation (IFC). This financial scaling is heavily driven by a massive sixfold surge in contracted capacity across Raxio’s network, fueled by cloud migration and high-density artificial intelligence (AI) workloads. Today, the ET1 facility functions as an essential, scalable interconnection hub, enabling local financial institutions, telecommunication operators, cloud service providers, and tech enterprises to colocate critical workloads safely within Ethiopia. Also, this data center project showcases the growing computing infrastructure of Ethiopia as the country joins the data centre race in Eastern Africa where countries such as Kenya are actively developing data centers.
November 23, 2023
The newest Tier III certified Ethiopian Raxio Data Center is set to address the rising needs of an upcoming business and the public sector for reliable IT based solutions. The flagship of this facility in Addis Ababa represents a big milestone in the journey at Raxio and Ethiopia as a whole according to the general manager of Raxio Data Center Ethiopia.
This data center facility will speed up the increased economic development in the country. This will enable the support of the local businesses and the government agencies, also attracting the regional and international service as well as content providers into Ethiopia.
Also read: Africa CDC Laboratory Unveiled in Ethiopia
Ethiopian Raxio Data Center Capacity
The Raxio Data Center facility provides a secure colocation space that can accommodate up to 800 racks and delivering up to a total of 3MW of IT power. This provides a robust, completely redundant environment for accommodating mission-critical IT infrastructure available 24/7. The Raxio Ethiopia Data Center is set to become one of the connectivity hubs in Ethiopia by creating an ecosystem where both local and international carriers will be connecting and exchanging traffic.
The customers will also be beneficiaries of the choice of providers available and will be safe from connectivity cuts. The launching of this Ethiopian Raxio Data Center confers with the initiative of the Ministry of Innovation and Technology (MInT) Digital set initiative and the core priorities of the ministry. The Ethiopian Raxio Data Center has also been equipped with the technologies that provide maximum operational effectiveness but can also deliver the efficiencies of the environment. The design of the equipment of Raxio are adapted to the local environment and the conditions of the weather and climate of the area. This factor enables the Ethiopian Raxio Data Center to attain the optimal Power Usage Efficiency (PUE) ratios.
Raxio Data Center Ethiopia (ET1) Technical Factsheet
Project Name: Raxio ET1 Data Centre
Operator: Raxio Group (backed by Roha & Meridiam)
Facility Type: Carrier-neutral, Enterprise-Grade Colocation
Location: Ethio ICT Park, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (30 mins from Bole International Airport)
Certification: Uptime Institute Tier III Certified (TCCD / Facility)
Target Uptime: 99.982% operational availability
Facility Specifications
- Site Footprint: 10,000 m² total compound
- Data Center Footprint: 2,000 m² white space (scalable to double floor)
- Capacity: Up to 800 racks
- Rack Specifications: Standard 54U (600x1200mm)
- Power Density: 1 kW to 21 kW per rack
Power and ooling Infrastructure
- IT Power Provision: 3 MW
- Utility Connection: 33kV dedicated feed from the nearest substation
- Power Redundancy: Fully redundant 2N design (Transformer, Generator, UPS, Busbar to Rack PDU)
- UPS Autonomy: 7 minutes continuous battery backup
- Generator Backup: On-site fuel storage supporting 72 hours of full-load run time
- Cooling System: Indirect adiabatic cooling with minimum N+1 system resilience
- Target PUE: Design Power Usage Effectiveness of 1.3
Connectivity and Security
- Connectivity Hub: Carrier-neutral with 2 dedicated Meet-Me Rooms (MMR) and dual diverse fiber intake routes
- Carrier Partners: Interconnected with Ethio Telecom, Safaricom Ethiopia, Cloud251, WebSprix, and local IXPs
- Physical Security: 7-layer access security, 2.4m/4m perimeter boundary wall with razor wire, vehicle crash barriers, biometric readers, and 24/7/365 CCTV monitoring
- Fire Safety: Aspirated Very Early Smoke Detection Apparatus (VESDA) with gas-based suppression systems
Project Team
1. Project Owner & Operator
Raxio Group: Lead developer and regional facility operator.
2. Key Investors & Shareholders
Roha Group Inc.: US-based investment firm and founding institutional shareholder of Raxio.
Meridiam: Global sustainable infrastructure fund manager and equity investor.
International Finance Corporation (IFC): Lead debt financing provider for Raxio’s platform expansion.
3. Engineering, Design and Construction Contractors
Future-Tech (UK): Lead international design and engineering consultant.
Master Power Technologies (South Africa): Lead contractor responsible for localizing, supplying, installing, and commissioning pre-engineered data center equipment and MEP infrastructure.
Yema Architecture (Ethiopia): Local lead architectural firm managing design localization, local permitting, and construction supervision.
4. Public Sector and Institutional Partners
Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC): Facilitated investment approvals and site land allocation.
Ministry of Innovation and Technology (MInT): Strategic government partner supporting alignment with the Digital Ethiopia 2025 framework.
Ethio ICT Park: Host technology park authority where the compound is located.
5. Telecom Carriers and IXP Partners
Ethio Telecom (Carrier and Infrastructure Partner)
Safaricom Ethiopia (Carrier Partner)
Cloud251 (Cloud & Enterprise Partner)
WebSprix (IXP & Connectivity Provider)
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