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FOCUS: CEOs Setting the Agenda for Nigeria’s Digital Economy
In a significant move last year, Nigeria’s leading carrier-neutral data center operator, Medallion Data Centre Limited, following its acquisition in 2021, underwent a rebranding to become Digital Realty – Nigeria. This strategic transition not only strengthened its market presence in Africa but also positioned it to capitalize on the vast opportunities to address the growing demand for connectivity and enhance internet infrastructure across the continent. In this exclusive interview, Ikechukwu Nnamani, CEO of Digital Realty – Nigeria, shares insights into the company’s efforts to advance seamless connectivity across all its data centers and drive growth in Nigeria’s digital economy.
How does Digital Realty – Nigeria ensure compliance with local regulatory requirements governing data centers and telecommunications infrastructure in Nigeria?
Digital Realty maintain the same global practice in all countries it operates in. We have a dedicated department under our corporate services unit that ensures there is full compliance in all aspects of our operations both during construction of new facilities and post operations.
RELATED: Medallion officially becomes Digital Realty to strengthen market presence
What are some of the innovative technologies and solutions Digital Realty – Nigeria implementing to enhance the performance, security, and efficiency of its data center operations?
As part of the global standard of operations Digital Realty guarantees it customers the same SLAs irrespective of the country of operation. Our Service Now platform ensures seamless customer interface both to order new services as well as maintain efficient services to the customers.
We are also rolling out services in the Nigerian market that will both offer seamless connectivity across all our datacenters and enhance the digital economy in Nigeria
Does Digital Realty – Nigeria have in place a program to foster a culture of professional development among its employees as well as retaining top talent within the data center and telecommunications industry?
Yes. All staff in Digital Realty Nigeria has access to the Digital University platform of Digital Realty Global. This ensures that all staff have unlimited access to learning tools both within the datacenter industry and ICT in general. Several of our staff members have over the years been trained in Europe and North America to enhance their skill sets in the datacenter space. We also have a very robust training programme for interns and NYSC staff where we give opportunities to students in their 3rd and 4th year industrial training program as well as also post graduate studies during their NYSC exercise.
The Nigerian economy is undergoing rapid digitization…. Digital Realty is committed to support the emerging digital economy in Nigeria by implementing the necessary infrastructure.
How does Digital Realty – Nigeria prioritize sustainability in its data center operations to minimize environmental impact and promote energy efficiency?
Digital Realty is a major supporter of the global environmental sustainability program. We are fully complaint with six major ESG parameters that we not only measure and track but we also report to the key ESG supervisory bodies. We track and report on the following parameters amongst others: PUE, WUE, Renewable Energy, Circular Economy, Waste Heat Reuse, and Carbon footprint reduction
In the light of your insightful presentation at the recent 50MVPS in Lagos on Myth and Facts of Nigeria’s digital economy, how does Digital Realty – Nigeria see the future growth and development of tech sector over the next decade?
The Nigerian economy is undergoing rapid digitization. This calls for the implementation of very robust ICT infrastructure covering not only the access network but also the metro, long distance and international connectivity networks. All these networks need next generation datacenters for the storage and exchange of data to be generated. Digital Realty is committed to support the emerging digital economy in Nigeria by implementing the necessary infrastructure.
How does Digital Realty – Nigeria anticipate addressing emerging opportunities and challenges within these sectors, considering technological advancements and evolving market dynamics?
Digital Realty operates some of the most advanced datacenters in the world. We are amongst the leaders in developing the advances in the datacenter space globally. All datacenters with the Digital Realty designation are operated under the same global operating standard. These same standards apply in the operation in Nigeria. Realizing that Nigeria is a difficult market to implement new infrastructure and also operate the built infrastructure, Digital Realty relies on the more than 15 years of on the ground datacenter experience of the management team in Nigeria in navigating the Nigerian operating space to ensure we blend the best in global practices with the local environment we operate in.
