Data centres are suddenly de rigueur in Africa, with new facilities being built across the continent as telecommunications operators and independent infrastructure providers cater for rapidly expanding demand from African consumers for cloud-based services, including video on demand. "The data centre hype is finally being realised in Africa," said Standard Bank head of telecoms and media Nina Triantis. "People have been talking about data centres for a long time, but in sub-Saharan Africa - outside South Africa - the lack of infrastructure and power has meant it has been difficult." There also hasn't been big demand from international players such as Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Facebook, but these companies are now turning to emerging markets for future growth. In South Africa, the data centre market has always been better developed than in the rest of the region, but demand continues to expand thanks to a growing trend by big companies, including banks, to outsource IT operations...
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