How fast is Africa's data center industry evolving?

Whilst Africa is going digital at a frenetic pace it lacks the digital infrastructure necessary to scale. But building a data center is not an easy task, especially where you have connectivity issues, unreliable power supplies and investment constraints

Join our thought-leader panel as the openly discuss the challenges they face and the solutions they are developing to build critical infrastructure. This DCD>Debate provides an in depth discussion that will directly impact DCD>Africa being held in Johannesburg on July 24.
 
  • Where are we seeing data center activity in sub-Saharan Africa and why?
  • What design best practices should data center operators be applying in this region?
  • How is the race to cloud shaping African colocation markets?

Speaker Panel

DCD>Debates brings together a panel of 4 high level of expert speakers

Phil_Collerton_CRO_Uptime_Institute

Phil Collerton

CRO
Uptime Institute

Phil Collerton is the Chief Revenue Officer of Uptime Institute, responsible for all commercial and service delivery activities. Collerton joined Uptime Institute in February 2012 and, prior to his current role was MD for the EMEA region.

Collerton began his career at BIS Banking Systems, where he was responsible for software development, technical support and customer service, spending seven years working in their Luxembourg subsidiary. He also previously worked as a GM for Tandem computers, and holds a BA in Modern Languages. 



Funke Opeke, CEO, MainOne

Funke Opeke

CEO
MainOne

Ms. Funke Opeke, is founder and CEO of MainOne. MainOne is a broadband infrastructure services provider that built Western Africa's first privately owned, open-access submarine cable sytem interconnecting Lagos, Nigeria: Accra, Ghana, and Seixal, Portugal in 2010. In January 2015, the company launched operations of MDXi - West Africa's largest commercial Tier III data center, and in Nov 2015, it launched a submarine cable extension from Lagos into Kribi, Cameroon.

MainOne has grown to become the leading provider of Wholesale and Enterprise connectivity and data center services across the West African region and the company partners with major global technology companies to deliver services across Africa.

Ben Roberts, CTO, Liquid Telecom

Ben Roberts

CTO
Liquid Telecom

Ben joined LTK as CEO in 2013, and has been the Chief Technical Officer for Liquid Telecom Group since 2006. With over 20 years experience across a range of technologies in design, support, integration and operational management roles, he has led the group’s networking and product strategy, expanding its technology base and fibre network across Africa.

Before joining Liquid Telecom, Ben was responsible for electronics design and satellite systems at Ericsson UK Limited. He also worked with Lotus Cars, the British sports car manufacturer, as an engineer. Ben holds a BSc Hons Physics from the University of Bristol in the UK.

Peter Judge, DCD

Peter Judge

Global Editor
DCD

Peter Judge is the global editor at DatacenterDynamics. He has been involved with tech B2B publishing in the UK for many years, working at Ziff-Davis, ZDNet, IDG and Reed. His main interests are networking, security, mobility and cloud.