Africa Data Center Market Forecasts 2020-2025 - Rapid Spread of COVID-19 Has Significantly Increased Data Traffic

DUBLIN, Aug. 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Data Center Market in Africa - Industry Outlook and Forecast 2020-2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Africa data center market by revenue is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 12% during the period 2019-2025

Africa data center market size is expected to cross $3 billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of over 12% during the forecast period. The Africa data center industry has witnessed a steady interest from major global cloud service providers such as AWS and Microsoft, along with Huawei over the last five years.

The increasing demand for cloud-based services and modular data center solutions among enterprises, especially in SMEs and government agencies, are expected to drive the market in Africa. It is expected that over 70% of organizations operating in the region will shift to the cloud region by 2025. South Africa, Kenya, Morocco, Egypt, and Nigeria are at the forefront of improving the digital economy. These countries, along with cloud-based service adoption, have also witnessed high usage of big data analytics.

Several African countries are yet to be cloud-ready, and the improvement in inland and submarine connectivity will see multiple enterprises migrating their workloads to the cloud during the forecast period. A majority of the investment in Africa is led by colocation and telecommunication service providers, followed by enterprises and government agencies due to the installation of modular data centers.

The rapid spread of COVID-19 has significantly increased data traffic since March 2020. To provide high availability services to end-users, operators are taking precautionary measures for their on-site employees. Colocation data center operators have taken steps to manage the available workforce to monitor their existing faculties without any service disruption. Construction projects in African countries have not been completed halted after the outbreak of the COVID-19. A reduced workforce followed restrictions imposed by the government on site. The impact of the pandemic in African countries is low-to-moderate.

In-depth Analysis and Data-driven Insights on the Impact of COVID-19 Included

The study considers the present scenario of the Africa data center market and its market dynamics for the period 2019-2025. It covers a detailed overview of several market growth enablers, restraints, and trends. The report offers both the demand and supply aspects of the market. It profiles and examines leading companies and other prominent ones operating in the market.

Key Questions Answered

1. What is the Africa data center market size and growth rate during the forecast period?
2. What are the factors impacting the growth of the Africa data center market share?
3. How is the growth of electrical and mechanical infrastructure affecting the growth of the Africa data center market?
4. Who are the leading vendors in the Africa data center market, and what are their market shares?
5. What is the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the South Africa data center market?

Africa Data Center Market Segmentation

The Africa data center market research report includes a detailed segmentation by IT infrastructure, electrical infrastructure, mechanical infrastructure, general construction, tier standards, and geography.

The server market in Africa is expected to witness significant growth in the next few years due to investments from major cloud service providers in the region. It is likely to grow with the increase in the physical presence of SaaS providers. These expansions will increase the demand for servers and promote the procurement of high-performance infrastructure solutions. The trend of adopting organization-specific software over the cloud platform will also increase the demand for high computing servers.

UPS systems are widely adopted to provide backup power for cooling systems installed in the region. Over the last five years, the operators have been laying higher emphasis on the monitoring of batteries in the UPS system. The adoption of lithium-ion batteries is expected to grow during the forecast period as their price will continue to decline. However, the use of lithium-ion batteries will be witnessed only after 3 to 4 years in Africa, as many operators start to build large and hyper-scale facilities in the continent.

Data centers in Africa support the use of free cooling systems as they take advantage of cold nights and winter seasons in the region. This will lead to the adoption of free cooling chillers. Operators in the African region are still dependent on air-based cooling techniques. Dedicated data center buildings, especially those operating at higher rack densities, are witnessing the use of chilled water systems. The operators are looking for efficient solutions to reduce their CAPEX and OPEX, maintain data center space, and reduce the power consumption of cooling units.

The greenfield development of data centers in South Africa, Morocco, Kenya, Nigeria, and Egypt will continue to grow along with the installation of on-site renewable power sources such as solar energy to partially or entirely power the operations. Global construction contractors dominate the Africa data center construction market as principal contractors and local construction companies as sub-contractors. However, the increasing demand is prompting contractors to consider data centers as continuous revenue generators with a skilled workforce trained in building the facilities. Labor costs are low in the country. However, the demand for a skilled workforce will increase labor costs in the region. The growth in greenfield facilities will generate more revenue for installation and commission service providers.

The number of Tier I and Tier II data centers in Africa has reduced significantly over the last five years because of high awareness about the use of redundant infrastructure. UPS and PDU systems of Tier II facilities are equipped with a minimum of N+N redundancy. Most under-developed projects across the region fall under the Tier III category. This trend is likely to continue throughout the forecast period, with many operators expected to move to the Tier IV category based on the growth in rack power density and critical applications. Tier IV facilities are equipped with at least 2N+1 redundancy in infrastructure that makes the facility fault-tolerant, with UPS systems and PDUs having 2N+2 redundancy. In Africa, mostly enterprises offering cloud services are likely to develop Tier IV facilities during the forecast period.

Segmentation by IT Infrastructure

• Server Infrastructure
• Storage Infrastructure
• Network Infrastructure

Segmentation by Electrical Infrastructure

• UPS Systems
• Generators
• Transfer Switches & Switchgears
• PDUs
• Other Electrical Infrastructure

Segmentation by Mechanical Infrastructure

• Cooling Systems
• CRAC & CRAH Units
• Chiller Units
• Cooling Towers & Dry Coolers
• Other Units
• Racks
• Other Mechanical Infrastructure

Segmentation by General Construction

• Building Development
• Installation & Commissioning Services
• Building Designs
• Physical Security
• DCIM

Tier Standard

• Tier I & Tier II
• Tier III
• Tier IV

Insights by Geography

Data center facilities in South Africa are equipped with reliable power backup sources. The country suffers from non-reliability in the power supply. UPSs and generators will continue to grow due to the increasing construction of large and mega facilities and the inaccurate power grid connectivity. The increased need for data center solutions in the country is expected to fuel the demand for transfer switches and switchgear during the forecast period.

South Africa is likely to move to the adoption of free-cooling chillers or evaporative coolers. The market for cooling systems is likely to depend on the construction of mega and hyperscale data center, especially of 10 MW capacity. While several smaller facilities in Africa use DX-based CRAC units, medium and extensive facilities are installing CRAH units. The implementation of air-cooled CRAC systems with cooling units that use refrigerants or glycol-based cooling is expected to grow during the forecast period.

In terms of general construction, most colocation facilities in the country have installed physical security solutions, ranging from perimeters to rack-guarded through CCTV cameras and biometric systems. Companies have also adopted DCIM/BMS solutions that enable remote monitoring of entire operations.

Segmentation by Africa

• South Africa
• Morocco
• Kenya
• Nigeria
• Other Countries

Insights by Vendors

The Africa market has a strong presence of leading IT infrastructure vendors - HPE, Dell Technologies, Cisco, Huawei, IBM, and Lenovo. The Africa data center market share is growing YOY due to the increase in digitalization initiatives. Schneider Electric, Vertiv, and Huawei are the major vendors in electrical infrastructure and have a strong presence in the market. In terms of generators, Cummins and Caterpillar have a strong market presence.

Multiple colocation providers are operating in this market with strong partnerships with facility operators. The market for mechanical infrastructure comprises multiple systems that provide sufficient cooling solutions for the growing rack power density. The market will witness intense competition owing to the growing construction of data centers over the next few years. The Africa data center market comprises several construction contractors, architectural and engineering firms, physical security vendors, and DCIM solutions providers.

Prominent IT Infrastructure Vendors

• Arista
• Broadcom
• Cisco
• Dell Technologies
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)
• Huawei
• IBM
• Juniper
• Lenovo
• NetApp

Prominent Data Center Support Infrastructure Vendors

• ABB
• Caterpillar
• Cummins
• Eaton
• Shenzhen Envicool Technology
• Legrand
• MTU On Site Energy
• Schneider Electric
• STULZ
• Rittal
• Vertiv

Prominent Construction Contractors

• Atkins
• Aveng Grinaker
• Concor
• Edarat Group
• Etix Everywhere
• Future-tech
• Huawei
• ISG

Prominent Data Center Investors

• Africa Data Centres (Liquid Telecom)
• Amazon Web Services (AWS)
• Icolo.io
• Internet Technologies Angola (ITA)
• Inwi
• MDXi (MainOne)
• N+ONE
• Orange
• Raxio Data Center
• Rayan Data Center
• Teraco Data Environments

Market Dynamics

Opportunities & Trends

• Availability of Renewable Energy Fuels Procurement Growth
• Smart City Initiatives Fuel Data Center/Edge Deployments
• Government Support to Boost Digital Economy
• Increase in Adoption of All-Flash Storage Solutions
• Faster Penetration of Converged and Hyperconverged Infrastructure Solution

Growth Enablers

• Cloud Adoption Fueling Data Center Investments
• Big Data & IoT Spending Fuel Data Center Growth
• Migration from On-Premise Infrastructure to Colocation & Managed Services
• Increased Investments in Fiber Connectivity
• Data Traffic to Boost Data Center Development

Growth Restraints

• Location Constraints for Data Center Construction
• Lack of Skilled Workforce
• Budget Constraints & Meager Investment Support

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/w33bi8

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