• Digital Realty has opened the 6.4MW NBO2 data centre beside its existing NBO1 facility in Nairobi
  • The company says its Nairobi campus provides access to more than 100 networks, two internet exchanges and a satellite teleport

The fact

Digital Realty said on 7 September that it had opened Nairobi Two, or NBO2, adding 6.4MW of data-centre capacity beside its existing NBO1 facility in Kenya. The opening coincides with the transition of the iColo brand to Digital Realty in Kenya and Mozambique.

In addition, the company says customers at the Nairobi campus can connect to more than 100 networks, two internet exchanges and a satellite teleport. TESPOK, which operates the Kenya Internet Exchange Point, separately lists iColo NBO1 on LRC Road as one of its Nairobi exchange locations.

Digital Realty's NBO2 facility page lists space ranging from individual cabinets to larger suites, together with 2N UPS redundancy and N+2 cooling. The company has not specified in the announcement which networks and exchange services are physically present inside NBO2 itself rather than elsewhere across the campus.

The assessment

NBO2 gives companies more room to place servers and network equipment next to an existing interconnection hub in Nairobi. That can reduce the amount of extra network infrastructure they need if the carriers, exchanges or content networks they already use are available on the same campus.

The figure of more than 100 networks sounds impressive, but customers still need to check which of those networks they can actually connect to from NBO2. Some connections may require separate cross-connects, exchange ports or additional links to another facility.

For BTW readers, the advantage of NBO2 is not just its 6.4MW of new capacity. Its value will depend on how easily customers can reach the networks they already use. If those connections are available on or near the campus, companies can expand in Nairobi without building a more complicated network setup elsewhere.

What to watch

Watch for carrier and exchange listings that identify services available directly from NBO2, as well as the first customer deployments in the new facility. Details on cross-connects between NBO2, NBO1 and the Kenya Internet Exchange would show how easily tenants can use the existing Nairobi interconnection ecosystem from the additional space.