< PreviousFEATURES 40invest in even bigger firewalls as they grow. Currently, the small and mid-sized market is in the early stages of adoption, with demand expected to surge as more businesses see the benefits of SASE. Building in resilience Alongside secure connections, guaranteeing network resilience has never been more important. In a world where most business processes are digital, high network availability and redundancy are crucial to prevent any disruptions to business operations. After all, if the network goes down, business stops, no matter the size of the organisation. Users must be able to access their workloads anytime, from anywhere. Reliable failover capability is a must. In addition, many core applications such as video conferencing are real- time, relying on a consistently high quality of service. Self-healing, wireless mesh networks are typically used by businesses and venues with large, high-density environments. They are the perfect solution for some small and mid-sized businesses, too. They work by connecting multiple access points together for seamless coverage, extending the WiFi signal across the premises and eliminating ‘dead’ zones. They are designed so that there is no single point of failure: If one part of the network goes down, the rest will keep functioning. As they can self- configure, self-optimise and self-heal, they provide a high degree of business resilience. Edge routers are also vital to achieving a high level of resilience. Some come with built-in 4G internet failover. If the primary internet connection is lost, the router automatically switches to 4G to maintain connectivity. Finally, SASE solutions can play a part in improving network performance through clever routing features, prioritising certain types of traffic, and ensuring there is enough bandwidth for critical business applications. Flexibility to grow network capacity Organisations often experience rapid growth in demand for connectivity and data, which requires their networks to be easily scalable. The network architecture must be able to accommodate increasing numbers of users, devices and fast-growing data throughput - all without compromising stability and performance. Businesses should re-examine their infrastructure on a regular basis so they can adapt it to their current situation. Questions to ask include: Is its capacity still right? Have workloads moved to the cloud? Where is the workforce located? Because requirements can change fast, there are advantages in having pre-configured network templates and automated rule-setting available. These allow network managers to quickly extend the network when and where needed. Plug-and-play mesh networks with the ability to clone existing configurations can drastically shorten deployment times. Automated network configuration also eliminates misconfigurations, which can lead to security breaches. Network management should always be as simple and efficient as possible. Cloud-based WiFi management allows organisations to schedule firmware updates from the cloud, while setting up guest WiFi or deploying SASE only takes a matter of minutes. Network needs are changing fast Today, businesses need to architect their networks to support seamless and secure access for various devices, operating systems and platforms, while maintaining data integrity and protecting against vulnerabilities. Managing these increasingly complex networks has become harder. A growing number of organisations are looking to add in technology that can automate a larger proportion of the network functions, as well as automating network monitoring and troubleshooting. Cloud-based and remote management solutions - such as Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) tools - have made administrative tasks significantly easier and paved the way for network- as-as-service (NaaS) offerings. With the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), these eventually promise a zero-touch approach to provisioning, managing and updating networks. However, the technology isn’t quite mature enough for a ‘set and forget’ approach. In addition, innovation in networking is traditionally slow. Though technology is advancing fast, organisations don’t tend to upgrade their network components very often - the typical cycle is around five years. This means innovations are embraced more slowly. In fact, adoption of network automation is still only in its early stages. According to a Gartner report published in 2022, only 35% of enterprises use network automation. Business networks will continue to evolve and will have to adapt as business needs and the technology landscape change. For network architects, this means they will have to keep reviewing and updating their strategies to stay ahead of their organisation’s networking needs. FEATURES 41FEATURES 42Two of Africa’s biggest economies suffer regular power grid blackouts. South Africa continues to grapple with a formidable energy challenge caused by a strained and unreliable power grid prone to rolling outages. In Nigeria, the grid crisis has reached alarming levels, with two total grid collapses occurring within a single week in September 2023. Such grid instability poses a significant hurdle for data centre development, as these are facilities that require constant and uninterrupted power. The situation is being exacerbated by ageing infrastructure, maintenance issues, and a surge in energy demand. Yet, the situation in both countries and across the African continent also presents a unique set of opportunities for innovation. Data centre developers in South Africa and Nigeria could explore alternative power solutions, such as microgrids and demand response mechanisms, to fortify their energy ecosystems and at the same time fuel the growth of their digital economies. This juxtaposition of challenge and opportunity highlights the imperative for innovative and sustainable energy solutions in an increasingly data- driven world. Sector growth in Africa’s digital services, in line with the rollout of off-grid power, increasing internet penetration, rising smartphone usage and e-commerce have sparked a rush into data centres. Existing and future investment figures are impressive, and demand drivers are accelerating, but such rapid growth should not be delivered in a gold-rush fever that ignores the opportunities to respond to demand with long-term, efficient and sustainable facilities. Africa – a growing opportunity for data centre investment There is much to be optimistic about in Africa’s data centre space. A report from market research group Arizton, found $2.6 billion was invested in the market in 2021. It is expected that $5.4 billion will be invested by 2027, at a compound annual growth rate of 12.73% over five years. Digital Realty (bought Teraco in 2022), Equinix ($320 million acquisition of MainOne in December 2021 to expand in Ghana, the Ivory Coast and Nigeria) and Vantage ($1 billion invested with plans for more) have all made significant market moves in South Africa and are pushing into new territories across the continent. At the same time, local players are emerging. Typical projects include Liquid Intelligent Technologies’ 10MW data centre in Lagos, Nigeria. Africa Data Centres’ new facility in Accra, Ghana with an initial capacity of 10MW, and the potential to expand to 30MW is the largest data centre facility in West Africa outside Nigeria. Raxio Data Centres has secured a ‘sustainability-linked’ $170 million loan from a consortium of investors, who include French development finance institution Proparco, Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) and investment manager Ninety-One. Raxio aims to accelerate the expansion of its facilities in seven African markets. However, the growth of data centre facilities in both size and number across Africa inevitably raises concerns about their environmental impact. Globally Ed Ansett, founder and chairman, i3 Solutions Group, https:// i3.solutions/ Africa’s digital growth – an opportunity to think differently FEATURES 43there is a need for the industry to take a more sustainable approach to minimise its carbon footprint, and new builds in Africa present a sustainability opportunity which must not be wasted. Simply building as before and then fighting to get grid energy by relying on Africa's power generation mix, that is heavily reliant on traditional sources such as coal, oil and natural gas, is not viable. Crucial for the industry is developers choosing to move away from conservative design approaches and adopting more sustainable practices. Only through the use of energy-efficient technologies run off renewable energy dominant microgrids can data centres expect to significantly reduce their emissions profiles. In short, the question is whether the industry is willing to leapfrog itself to adopting new sustainable designs, technologies, energy sources and practices. Demand Drivers Power and connectivity can mean different things in different markets of Africa. Of Africa’s 1.2 billion population, roughly half, 600 million people, don’t have a dependable networked electricity supply. In Sub-Saharan Africa, two-thirds of people have no regular access to electricity. This is being changed through the development of off- grid power systems. Much of this off-grid solar power is largely used to charge the more than 1billion mobile phone handsets as people rush to get connected and online. According to the GSMA The Mobile Economy Sub- Saharan Africa 2022 report, there will be 613 million unique mobile subscribers by 2025, covering 50% of the population (of which 41 million will be 5G connections). Mobile is forecast to generate $154 billion in economic value by 2025. Nigeria boasted 199.6 million mobile connections as of March 2022, according to the West African country’s Communication Commission (NCC). GSMA Intelligence data also showed that there were 108.6 million cellular mobile connections in South Africa at the start of 2022, equivalent to 179.8% of its population. Egypt’s 98.29 million mobile users during the first quarter of 2022, represents 93.4% of its population. Yet currently in central Africa, 39% of the population lives outside a mobile broadband coverage area. This figure is 16% for West Africa, 13% for East Africa and 12% in Southern Africa. In all, it is estimated that 43% of the entire African population is still without smartphone access. Africa, more than a distributed and rural data story Africa is not just a story of remoteness and rurality. Africa’s 10 largest cities amount to 55 million people living in the continent’s biggest metros. Building and running the data centres required to support the businesses in these metros, and how they serve a growing and ever more connected population, means facing up to new challenges, from dealing with unreliable grids, to finding sustainable energy. The data centre sector should look to the ‘leapfrogging’ efforts of the power and mobile sectors of off-grid power and network rollouts. In the power supply areas, industrial microgrids are being built around a combination of renewable sources (where available) and on-site engine-based power generation. Power companies are onto the huge opportunities for leapfrogging outside the major cities - avoiding vast and costly fixed power line investment by jumping straight to solar and wind for power generation and building community, rural and networked microgrids. Leapfrogging is not a panacea but it shows that in power and telecoms, new thinking in supply and demand is facilitating rapid adoption and expansion. New designs and operations This is one reason among many that points to new data centre development in Africa requiring new thinking, new designs and new ways of operating. The use of microgrids and battery energy storage systems (BESS) can enable data centres to operate independently of the main utility grid or use a combination of grid and renewable power sources. The BESS stores excess renewable energy generated during times of low demand and releases it when needed. In doing so, it overcomes intermittency issues to extend the usefulness of renewable power and reduce reliance on non-renewable sources. The African battery market and value chain could lead to the generation of thousands of jobs across the continent and a market revenue estimated to reach $1 billion by 2030. This market is driven by behind- the-metre (BTM) battery installations including UPS, telecom, rooftop solar, solar home lighting systems, and microgrids. Beyond the direct resources that data centres can provide, through district heating and cooling schemes from combined heat and power (CHP) systems within the facilities and feeding power to microgrids, data centres can also play a role in supporting social initiatives beyond their core operations. In this respect, data centre developments hold the potential to be a catalyst for a host of power and connectivity investments. They can, for example, partner with sustainable, affordable housing developers. There are also many opportunities for partnering with local organisations to provide digital literacy programs or supporting education and FEATURES 44healthcare services in underserved areas, helping to bridge the digital divide and enhance overall societal well-being. Africa is an emerging powerhouse that nationally and regionally will decide its own digital infrastructure future according to its resources. For engineers and designers, the game starts sidestepping traditional thinking and leapfrogging to a sustainable future. FEATURES 45NETWORKS EUROPE reaches a readership of 26,000 network infrastructure professionals throughout Europe, landing on the desks of data centre managers, facilities managers, CIOs, CTOs, ICT directors, consultants, network managers, integrators and many others in the data centre industry. NETWORKS EUROPE features editorial contributions from worldwide industry figureheads, ensuring that it's the world's best publication for information on all aspects of this constantly evolving industry. NETWORKS EUROPE The magazine for network and data centre professionals 2024 Editorial Schedule JAN/FEB Copy deadline – 8 Jan Resilience Sustainability MARCH/APRIL Copy deadline – 8 March Compliance Data MAY/JUNE Copy deadline – 8 May Hybrid Capacity If you would like to contribute a feature article, please contact the editor: Hazel Davis at editor@ networkseuropemagazine.com If you would like to advertise in any of the upcoming issues please contact sales@networkseuropemagazine.com The magazine for network and data centre professionals September/October 2023 EUROPE NETWORKS SOLVING ARCHITECTURAL AFRICA’S DIGITAL GROWTH Future-proofing data centres: cabling and connectivity in the age of AI Preparing the fibre cities of the future The 5G network evolution IN THIS ISSUE:Next >