WHY NAIROBI , KENYA IS A FAVOURABLE DATA CENTRE LOCATION
Setting up a data centre facility in Kenya can be done with a pretty clean conscience thanks to geothermal energy , Willner attests . With a population across West Africa of more than 400 million – more than 50 million of which in Kenya alone – the average age is around 21 , compared to approaching 50 in Europe . And with this demographic statistically more likely to be more frequent users of smartphones , Kenya is located well to deal with the sheer volumes of traffic coming from sub-Saharan Africa .
“ If you start looking at medium term demographics ,” Willner illustrates , “ we ’ re heading for a massive revolution in the next 30 years . Emerging markets have always had high interest rates , so they ’ ve always had to manage their businesses very carefully . There ’ s been very sensible management to companies , and suddenly people are beginning to look at Africa in particular and see what they can do .”
And with IXAFrica ’ s campus located in Nairobi , IXAfrica utilises the naturally high altitude to its advantage .
Willner explains : “ Nairobi sits at 1,700 metres – to put that into context , the highest mountain in the United Kingdom is 1,300 metres . Europeans and Americans have no clue about what ’ s going on in Africa , thinking power is terrible and it ’ s super hot . Nairobi is about 24 or 25 degrees all year round . It ’ s never too hot , never too cold . So when our first design came through and we had US $ 300,000 worth of central heating systems for the data centre , the people locally questioned as to why .”
Nairobi is the only city in the world with a national park on its doorstep , and Willner shares how a massive part of Kenyan culture revolves around protecting their environment .
“ There ’ s always a pull from the teams and people in Kenya to look for green solutions ,” he says . “ They ’ re still very close to nature and are really sensitive to that .” businesschief . ae 131