Abolaji Adebayo 
….foresees more investments
As Nigeria’s information and communications technology (ICT) sector is experiencing robust expansion, fuelled by the financial services, oil and gas and fintech industries, the regional director for Consolidated, Central and Southern Africa at Vertiv, Gary Chomse, has underscored the need for investment in more modular data centres.
He urged the Federal Government to prioritise development of modular data centre by licensing more investor and come up with policy that will support its development.
According to him, there are new investment prospects for data centres, to service advances in cloud computing infrastructure and the rollout of 5G technology.
A research report revealed that the size of the Nigerian data centre market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of almost 20 per cent (17.9%) during the period 2021-2027.
Chomse stated that the critical aspects of Nigeria’s data centre ecosystem include the need to deploy next-generation data infrastructure for agility and sustainability, and the ability to scale up as required.
“The strategic use of prefabricated modular data centres can help to address these challenges,” he said.
According to him, the complexity of new technologies, including machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) as well as the spreading of the network edge, is driving the need for enterprise data centres to add capacity.
“There is a growing need to upgrade data centre facilities to support the required advanced computing and higher-density architectures, including an increased complexity in power and cooling needs.
“As a result, many local organisations will need to plan to add capacity due to increasing growth and reliance on digital applications, and the realisation that in-house options aren’t sufficient.
The requirement is to be able to add capacity quickly and easily, without compromising on network security or the bottom line.
“Prefabricated modular data centre offerings provide sophisticated, customisable and scalable solutions to modern capacity challenges, offering factory-built reliability, rapid deployment, flexibility and efficiency.
“While prefabricated modular data centres are not new, the technology has been refined since its introduction around 15 years ago, and at the same time, the building practices involved have also been improved.
These sophisticated, fully integrated IT solutions can be configured to meet specific needs, as well as for quick deployment wherever computing is required.”
Analysing the benefits of prefabricated modular data centres, Chomse said: “In addition to being an easy-to implement, affordable alternative to building traditional data centres, prefabricated modular data centres offer the following benefits:
“Factory engineered reliability: Prefabricated solutions are engineered, assembled and tested in the factory, resulting in offerings that are rugged, reliable and repeatable.
This reliability can pay dividends over the system’s lifespan, reducing the overall need for repairs and service calls. “Speed of deployment: Integrated modular solutions can be built while on-site activities continue.
In addition, because they are fully integrated and virtually plug-and-play, these solutions can be commissioned and operational much faster than traditional data centres – up to 30 percent more quickly, in fact.
“Customisable: Modern modules are custom-built to customer specs, then the configuration and build can be repeated quickly and efficiently as demand increases.
This simplifies operation and service. “Flexible: Integrated modular solutions can be built and configured to support various architectures, including highdensity computing and liquid cooling.
In addition, a modular solution is portable and can be relocated as network demands change, for example to better support a low-latency application.
“Reduced waste: Because these are integrated, closed systems, they can be engineered to eliminate waste and be more sustainable than a traditional design.
“Cost certainty and scalability: The total cost of ownership is typically lower for integrated modular solutions, which also allow an organisation to add capacity when and where it is required.”
Additionally, he states that data centre industry in Nigeria is predicted to see significant growth in the next few years, being projected to reach $646 million by 2030, after its 2023 valuation of $250 million – an anticipated doubling and more, in just over five years.
“This growth comes on the back of the increasing demand for data storage and processing through the rise of the digital economy and the growth of internet usage in Nigeria.
