DE-CIX (German Commercial Internet Exchange), a leading operator of internet exchanges, has announced plans to establish interconnection platforms across Africa through the DE-CIX as a Service (DaaS) partner model, and, as an initial step, has announced strategic partnerships in three African markets.
DE-CIX has established partnerships to host what is called the Africa Cloud Interconnection Exchange (AF-CIX) at the Rack Centre data centre in Lagos, Nigeria, as well as with the ISP and hosting provider UNITED S.A. in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo in order to establish the Africa Congo Internet Exchange (ACIX). It has also partnered with the Libyan International Telecom Company (LITC) in Tripoli.
The aim is that all three new African platforms will be ready for service by the end of 2022, delivering international capabilities and next-generation interconnection services, including cloud connectivity, to their respective markets.
The partners will also extend the coverage of their platforms to further territories using their own infrastructure, enabling an initial reach of the platforms to a total of nine African countries. In addition to the three home markets, coverage will also span Cameroon, Congo, the Republic of Central Africa, Chad, Niger, and Sudan.
The DE-CIX-as-a-Service programme is described is a fully-fledged turnkey solution for building new ecosystems. It includes a set of services – such as installation, maintenance, provisioning, marketing and sales support – designed for data centre operators or other third parties to create their own interconnection platform fully operated by DE-CIX.
DE-CIX is planning to open more locations in various regions and metro markets on the African continent in 2022 and beyond.
