By Chinenye Anuforo [email protected]
The chief executive officer, MainOne, an Equinix company, Funke Opeke, has said that MainOne intends to continue to drive the tech-fuelled growth witnessed in African economies with expanded Equinix capabilities.
MainOne was acquired by Equinix, the world’s digital infrastructure company, on April 1, 2022.
Delivering her welcome address during the 2022 edition of Nerds Unite, organised virtually by the company last week with the theme “The Power of Global Interconnection,” Opeke said, “We are delighted that Equinix entered Africa for the first time through the MainOne platform, with the objective of integrating our facilities into their global Ëquinix Fabric platform that is already connecting over 10,000 enterprises, 65 cities, and over 200 data centres globally.
“We think the possibilities are endless and we intend to continue to drive the tech-fuelled growth we have witnessed in our economies with these expanded Equinix capabilities.
“We need the growth because the past few years of pandemic-induced recession and now high inflation have not been easy on businesses or our tech professionals who are increasingly seeking greener pastures offshore and we will do more here.”
Delivering the keynote address, Judith Gardiner, VP, growth and emerging markets, Equinix, explained that the company was the world’s largest interconnection and data centre provider. She said, “Our goal is to be the interconnection platform for the world’s leading businesses.”
She also pointed out that Equinix’s entry into Africa comes with great value addition to the continent: “As we grow our infrastructure platforms and partnerships in the region, start-ups in Nigeria will have the same access to the power of the entire data center network of Platform Equinix, in the same manner, the most sophisticated multinational operating from Singapore does. And not only will Lagos, Accra or Abidjan FinTech have this global access, but they will also continue to enjoy access to the rich ecosystem that MainOne has already built-in region within its data centers through peering with both global and local players to ensure that 40 percent of its Internet traffic is terminated in the country and growing.”
Gardiner also said Equinix is powering the financial sector with interconnections in 30 countries and six continents. The organization provides access to global services providers and network service providers.
She argued that the organization will continue to build out the infrastructure of MainOne and Platform Equinix across West Africa. “We trust that in years to come we will look back on this milestone event as a game-changer in the digital transformation fortunes of many of the businesses represented here today.”
The conference featured two panel sessions. The first focused on “Unlocking Growth through An Interconnected Global Digital Infrastructure” and the second was “Maximizing Business Efficiency and Minimizing Talent Drain and Rising CAPEX through IT Outsourcing”.
They both included industry experts who discussed the vast benefits accruable to subscribers through the power of global interconnection and IT Outsourcing.