icolo.io carrier neutral data centres

The internet has revolutionised our daily lives, we are constantly generating data and looking for new information. All this information needs to be stored for quick access and this gives rise to the need of increased capacity not only on our personal computers and mobile devices but also in data transmission and storage.

In Kenya most of internet data had been mainly managed by internet service providers and carriers. In 2014 however this changed with the entry of Icolo.io. Icolo.io stands for Internet provider, co-location service, input and output, which means the company provides co-location (power and space) services for internet service providers and other business enterprises to host their servers and computer equipment and is the first carrier neutral data centre in Kenya which means customers bring their own computer equipment and are free to choose from the alternative internet service providers or carriers servicing the centres.

The company currently operates 2 state of the art Tier III, PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) compliant and ISO 270001 (standard specification for an information security management system) certified data centres in Kenya, one in Mombasa launched in 2017 sitting on a 2,428m2 land space hosting 226 racks and a new one in Nairobi launched on the 1st of August 2019 sitting on a 4,400m2 land space and will host more than 228 racks and accommodate IT power of 825kW.

During the launch of Icolo’s first data centre in Mombasa dubbed MBA1 in 2017 Mr Ranjith Cherickel Icolo’s founder and CEO said “With the combination of a carrier neutral facility and the undersea cables, Mombasa will fast become the Gateway to Africa for all the international carriers and cloud players looking to build infrastructure in Africa”, the centre is to serve as the gateway to Africa, a reason as to why the company chose Mombasa as its premier location being the landing port for undersea fibre optic cables and indicated that the company plans to expand its services to more regions in the country and the whole in East African region. This came to pass in 2018 when the company broke ground for a new site at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa for its Nairobi data centre dubbed NBO1. At the launch Mr Cherickel reiterated the company’s mission to provide the same experience (internet) to Africans similar to elsewhere in the world. As to why the choice of CUEA grounds was ideal, Mr Cherickel observed there is space for expansion, the University provides a safe environment and hosting of an IBM facility makes it even more ideal.

Data centres work as safe houses for large amounts of internet data and information being transmitted by carriers, content providers and business enterprises and “Icolo data centres guarantee its customers 99.999% up-time with power, cooling, humidity and cross connectivity”, according to Mr Niraj Shah, Icolo’s General Manager. With the ecosystem created by hosting multiple internet services providers and carriers the data centres enable cross connectivity with no latency or delays an advantage especially for customers in the financial industry. The centres ensures power redundancy with N+1 for generators (with extra batteries and starters), Uninterrupted Power Supply connections (UPSs), and cooling and humidity control.

Nairobi is quickly becoming an Africa’s data hub evinced by its preference by major ICT players as bases for entry into sub-Saharan Africa, Icolo recognizes this and plans to capitalise. “NBO1 will be at the centre of Silicon Savannah and it’s a fantastic opportunity for our talented ICT professionals to build scalable infrastructure in and around the region. This places Kenya at the heart of Digital Africa” added Mr Cherickel.