MainOne, an Equinix company, has announced the launch of their new data center in Côte d’Ivoire in West Africa. The new data center will be an expanded open access, carrier-neutral facility confirming to Uptime Tier III standards. The facility named AB1.2 will be built at the Village of ICT & Biotechnology (VITIB) in Grand Bassam.
VITIB is a joint venture between the State of Côte d’Ivoire and the private sector to create a free trade zone dedicated to the development of ICT and Biotechnology in western Africa. It offers some tax and duties incentives to investors.
According to a statement released by MainOne, “This expansion aims to further empower digital transformation, foster innovation, and support the ever-increasing demand for data processing, storage, and connectivity in Côte d’Ivoire and Francophone West Africa.” It further says, that the project will provide “an opportunity to accommodate more customers in Côte d’Ivoire, providing them with a bouquet of enterprise-grade digital solutions with access to global services and internet exchanges, including the Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX) hosted at the data center.”
Etienne Kouadio Doh, MainOne’s Country Manager in Côte d’Ivoire, said, “With this launch of our new data center in Côte d’Ivoire, we are entering an exciting phase of transformation for businesses as it delivers a great opportunity to welcome more customers into our rich digital ecosystem, interconnected to the major digital players in the region and delivering 100% uptime connectivity to internet.” He further said, “We expect this state-of-the-art facility to become a catalyst for digital innovation, providing a robust infrastructure for enterprises to thrive, and further reinforcing Côte d’Ivoire as the digital hub for the Francophone West African region.”
As per the statement issued by the company, the facility will have “state-of-the-art infrastructure” and will deliver “advanced security systems, cutting-edge technologies, global certifications, in-country expert support and the region’s largest interconnected ecosystem to guarantee peak performance.”
MainOne is a West African connectivity and data center solutions provider. Equinix had entered Africa by acquiring MainOne in a US$ 320 Million deal in April 2022. This acquisition has therefore enabled MainOne customers to now also gain access to over 240 data centers in 32 countries across the world, through secure and dedicated interconnection services at their data center via the Equinix platform.
