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Recently, Galaxy Backbone (GBB), a digital transformation company in Nigeria, achieved Uptime Tier IV certification for its second data center, making it the first data center in Nigeria to obtain the Tier IV design and facility certifications. This accomplishment signifies that GBB Data Center’s design and facilities meet the highest international standards, ensuring high reliability and availability.
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It also strengthens GBB’s capability to provide cloud, disaster recovery and business continuity services to organizations in both the public and private sectors. Furthermore, this milestone accelerates Nigeria’s digital transformation and accelerates the nation’s journey towards becoming one of the leading digital economies across the African continent.
Uptime Tier certification is one of the world’s most authoritative data center rating systems. The certification system ranges from Tier I to Tier IV, with Tier IV being the highest. It encompasses three dimensions: design, facility, and operations. Tier IV data centers offer the highest level of redundancy and fault tolerance, achieving an availability of 99.995%.
The global digital economy is booming. As Africa’s largest economy and most populous country, Nigeria has been promoting the digital economy. Recent initiatives include the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy 2020–2030 and the National Broadband Plan 2020–2025. These efforts aim to accelerate digital infrastructure construction, increase broadband penetration, narrow the digital divide, and promote sustainable economic growth.
Established by the Federal Government of Nigeria, GBB provides ICT facilities and services for government ministries, departments, and agencies, and is responsible for building and operating the National Information and Communication Technology Infrastructure Backbone (NICTIB), a fiber optic network that spans the country and has connected nearly 30 states with high-speed fiber connectivity. In phases 1 and 2 of the project, data centers were built in Abuja and Kano, respectively, to meet growing network demands.
Huawei Join Hands with GBB to Build Prefabricated Modular Data Centers and Achieve Ultimate TTM
Building a traditional data center takes up to 30 months from planning and design to onsite construction, which is not conducive to rapid service rollout. After several rounds of evaluation, GBB chose Huawei. In the phase 2 of the project, GBB adopted Huawei’s FusionDC1000B prefabricated modular data center solution. This solution transforms the traditional sequential construction mode into one that features concurrent onsite construction and factory prefabrication, achieving fast delivery and on-demand deployment.
The data center consists of 17 prefabricated containers and integrates multiple systems such as the smart module, modular UPS, lithium battery, data center infrastructure management (DCIM), and iCooling. Through engineering productization, prefabrication, and pre-commissioning, only simple hoisting and assembly are required onsite, significantly reducing onsite construction waste and achieving dust-free construction. It takes only one month to hoist 17 containers and complete equipment installation and testing, making it the fastest construction time among local data center projects of similar size. Additionally, the prefabricated containers have a service life of 50 years and can withstand magnitude 3 earthquakes and scale 12 winds. They meet IP55 dustproof and waterproof standards, providing building-like quality and experience.
The Highly Reliable Tier IV Data Center Helps Nigeria Accelerate Digital Transformation
High reliability and availability are the eternal pursuits of data center construction. However, most of the existing data centers in Nigeria are Tier III. Therefore, to meet market demands, GBB partnered with Huawei to build Nigeria’s first Uptime Tier IV data center with dual certifications.
In designing the data center, GBB drew on the exterior and interior layout of the industry’s best data centers and pre-integrated the equipment and power distribution rooms. And for the first time, peripheral power supply and distribution equipment, air conditioner indoor and outdoor units, and maintenance and visitor’s passages are prefabricated into modules. As a result, the data center achieves an industry-leading prefabrication rate and passes the Uptime Tier IV certification in both design and facilities.
Professor Ibrahim Adeyanju, Managing Director and CEO of Galaxy Backbone, said, “Achieving this Tier IV certification from Uptime Institute is a testament to our unwavering dedication to excellence in cloud, data center, and business continuity services. This certification assures our clients that they can rely on us for the highest levels of service availability and security. We remain committed to driving innovation and delivering world-class services to support the digital transformation of Nigeria and beyond.”
Huawei will continue to work with GBB to build green, simple, smart, and reliable (GSSR) digital infrastructures across Nigeria and other African countries interested in similar services. This partnership aims to help Nigeria bridge the digital divide, share digital dividends, and illuminate the future of West Africa with digital advancements, powering the digital era forward.
