Speaking at the launch event , Governor Sanwo-Olu commended MainOne on building digital infrastructure in line with his Government ’ s strategy to make Lagos State a 21st Century Smart City . He added : “ Lagos is already on the map as the leading destination for technology companies on the African continent . Lagos is the commercial nerve centre of the country and we will continue to create an enabling environment for businesses to flourish by ensuring our policies support investment and create opportunities for entrepreneurs and investors . We can see that Equinix is now poised not only to be the biggest digital infrastructure player in Nigeria , but in Africa , and we welcome Equinix to the heartbeat of the country , the Centre of Excellence , the largest economy in Africa and the technology transformation hub of Africa .”

“ We are delighted to be expanding our Lekki Campus to increase capacity in our region ,” said the CEO of MainOne , Funke Opeke . “ Indeed , having a parent company that is the world ’ s digital company , choose to enter Africa through the acquisition of MainOne is a bold statement . Equinix recognises that Lagos has the potential to become the digital infrastructure hub for Africa and we are delighted that through this acquisition Equinix will extend its network of 240 data centres in 66 markets , to Lagos . Our plans include further expansion to

Lekki Campus to accommodate the requirements of global hyperscalers and regional businesses as we expand to connect the over 10,000 companies already on the Equinix platform . These businesses will now have access to our region and local businesses will come onboard to interconnect with them .”

Lekki II provides immediate room for growth on MainOne ’ s Lekki data centre campus which is targeted for further expansion up to 10MW of data centre capacity under the Equinix umbrella .

Judith Gardiner , VP Growth and Emerging Markets at Equinix welcomed MainOne as its latest acquisition and critical point of entry for Platform Equinix to Africa . “ By extending our global reach , we offer our 10,000 customers a significantly large new market to enter and interconnect with at many levels . Our expectations are high given what we have learned about the vision of the Lagos State Government and we are committed to making Lagos the Digital hub of Africa . To put this into context , Amsterdam as a key hub , with a population of 1 million people has nine Equinix data centres with over 106MW capacity . Lagos , with a population of over 20 million , has the potential to far exceed this footprint . We are committed to bringing our capital , expertise , knowledge and customers to accelerate the digital age in Nigeria .”

In line with MainOne ’ s existing assets , the new Lekki II data centre offers open access connectivity to all the leading telecom networks in Nigeria with established presence on the Lekki campus . Customers will enjoy access to a rich ecosystem of telecom operators , global networks , financial services companies and content providers not just in Nigeria , but across West Africa .

Meanwhile , Oracle recently announced the availability of its first cloud region in Africa to meet the rapidly growing demand for enterprise cloud services on the continent . The Oracle Cloud Johannesburg Region will boost cloud adoption across Africa while also helping businesses achieve better performance and drive continuous innovation . The opening marks Oracle ’ s 37th cloud region worldwide with plans to have at least

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44 cloud regions by the end of 2022 , continuing one of the fastest expansions of any major cloud provider .

Oracle ’ s strategy is to meet customers where they are , enabling customers to keep data and services where they need it . Customers can deploy Oracle Cloud completely within their own data centres with Dedicated Region and Exadata Cloud @ Customer , deploy cloud services locally with public cloud-based management , or deploy cloud services remotely on the Edge with Roving Edge Infrastructure .

OCI ’ s next-generation architecture provides a high-performing , resilient foundation for cloud services , while its physical and virtual network design maximises performance and security . For example , each Oracle Cloud region contains at least three fault domains , which are groupings of hardware that form logical data centres for high availability and resilience to hardware and network failures .

“ The fourth industrial revolution , which is powered by cloud-led technologies , has significantly accelerated in South Africa and the wider African continent ,” said Richard Smith , Executive Vice President , EMEA , Oracle . “ In recent months , cloud technologies have played a vital role in helping African public and private sector organisations ensure Business Continuity , deliver essential services and meet evolving customer expectations . The Oracle Johannesburg region offers a next-generation cloud to run any application faster and more securely for less , helping businesses build resilience , agility and achieve improved RoI .”

The Johannesburg region is built on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure ( OCI ), which enables customers to easily migrate IT workloads and data platforms to the cloud or build new cloud native applications . In addition , Oracle offers a wide range of application modernisation and cloud strategies to help African organisations operate with global competitiveness .

African organisations are using Oracle to manage their mission-critical workloads and take advantage of cloud economics . Customers will benefit from significant www . intelligentdatacentres . com

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