How colocation facilities are combatting load shedding

Although there has been a recent reprieve, South Africa has been battling load shedding for years now, which has had a significant impact on all industries and the economy. The information and communication technology (ICT) industry is no exception, where deliberate power outages have impacted the bottom lines of various technology providers, such as colocation facilities.

Load shedding has forced colocation facilities and data centres to invest in expensive alternative energy sources, like generators and solar inverters, over recent years. These are necessary to ensure continuous and uninterrupted services to businesses that rely on these ICT providers for their day-to-day operations.

SEACOM has partnered with leading carrier-neutral data centres, to provide colocation services to enterprises throughout South Africa. This offers our customers a vendor-neutral data and hosting environment with reduced costs and space requirements. Our colocation services are fully managed and backed by a 99.999% service level agreement (SLA).

In addition, our colocation services come with reliable power availability through N+1 energy redundancy, which is designed to maximise uptime. This provides resilience, interconnection provisioning, cabling, six layers of security, fire suppression and remote hands for peace of mind that your computing and data requirements will always be met.

How load shedding has impacted the ICT industry

Power outages pose a major risk to the ICT sector; load shedding has placed an increasing strain on enterprise battery banks and uninterrupted power supplies (UPSs). Data centres and colocation facilities have to run redundant UPS and generator systems to provide continuous power through load shedding incidents.

Recent statistics have shown that load shedding has cost the South African economy up to R900 million every day! The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry agrees, stating that every month, around R20 billion in lost productivity and revenue was attributed to power cuts last year.

The ICT sector relies heavily on power supply to maintain critical infrastructure and connectivity services. Power cuts undermine operation efficiency, customer service and overall productivity, which hinders progress in the digital sphere. ICT businesses are implementing various solutions to minimise the damage caused by ongoing blackouts.

How colocation facilities are overcoming load shedding

SEACOM and our host facilities are among the colocation providers that are addressing power cuts and investing in long-term solutions to ensure the uninterrupted operation of critical infrastructure. The N+1 energy redundancy system ensures that there is always enough power available to meet the demands of colocation customers.

Essentially, this system means that there is one extra generator or battery inverter for every generator needed to meet our customer’s needs. If one generator goes offline, a backup generator or inverter will take over and provide the power necessary for uninterrupted services. This is a highly reliable and always available service that protects enterprises from downtime and the effects of ongoing load shedding.

The diesel generators in the N+1 system provide the primary backup power, while the battery inverters act as a secondary backup. The whole system is monitored around the clock to ensure complete oversight and energy redundancy for our customers. In addition, an on-site fuel supply allows for consistent power generation in the event of extended load shedding.

In addition, our colocation services provide redundant connectivity through multiple fibre optic connections and diverse carrier options. This minimises disruptions and guarantees seamless access to critical data and colocation services. SEACOM’s colocation offers scalability and flexibility to evolving enterprises, allowing our customers to expand as their data needs change.

While load shedding has reduced recently, it is likely to pose an ongoing challenge for the country. The ICT sector is working to minimise these disruptions by investing in redundancy and alternative energy sources. With a reliable power supply and backup connectivity, SEACOM’s colocation services ensure uninterrupted operations. For more information about these services or to get a quote, email us at marketing@seacom.com or leave us a message.

SEACOM owns Africa’s most extensive network of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure, including subsea cables and secure internet connections. We offer a diverse range of flexible, scalable and high-quality solutions for businesses that meet world-class standards for connectivity.

SEACOM is privately owned and operated, making it agile and adaptable to the needs of the customer. This makes us the preferred ICT and internet connectivity partner for African businesses and peripheral service providers. We can guarantee high-speed, low-latency and secure internet connections to corporates and small enterprises.

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