Page 68 - SAMENA Trends - January 2021

ARTICLE SAMENA TRENDS

COVID-19 has simply accelerated their and security as they connect to more
implementation. clouds and data centres inside and outside
of the region,” says Neil Templeton, VP
Research company IDC has predicted as of Digital Innovation Marketing at PCCW
a result of the pandemic, cloud spending Global.
will rise across Middle East, Turkey and
Africa to US$2.8 billion a year. It sees Console Connect is the only Network-
online collaboration tools, cloud-based as-a-Service (Naas) platform that offers
platforms, and secure remote access as all extensive reach across Africa. Users of the
being central to this process, as will also platform can interconnect between data
improvements in infrastructure resiliency centres in a growing number of African
and disaster recovery. The sectors it countries, including South Africa, Kenya,
highlights are: education, media and Nigeria, Mozambique, Uganda, Ghana,
“Network automation can communications, government, healthcare Ivory Coast and Djibouti.
and retail.
help support the develop- Console Connect is the
ment of Africa’s cloud and Beyond these COVID-19 changes, there only Network-as-a-Ser-
data centre ecosystem. were already several dynamics producing vice (Naas) platform that
a migration to the cloud. When a carrier-
Console Connect’s Soft- neutral data centre opens in a country offers extensive reach
ware Defined Intercon- there is an accompanying growth in local across Africa. Users of the
cloud suppliers. Over time, many of them
nection platform provides become consultants who bridge the gaps platform can interconnect
African enterprises and between legacy systems and hyperscaler between data centres in a
carriers with new levels of offers. This is particularly true in South growing number of African
Africa where there are large numbers of
network speed, agility and companies supplying cloud software. countries, including South
security as they connect to The need for local interconnection Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Mo-

more clouds and data cen- The acceleration in digital transformation zambique, Uganda, Ghana,
tres inside and outside of and the arrival of more data centres and Ivory Coast and Djibouti.
hyper-scale cloud service providers in
the region,” Africa is also increasing the need for local
says Neil Templeton, interconnection. The platform also enables users to spin-up
VP of Digital Innovation As they move further along their digital direct and secure layer 2 services to global
cloud, SaaS, and IX peering partners on the
Marketing at PCCW Global transformation journey, businesses platform. This includes direct connections
across Africa will become interdependent to all leading hyperscale cloud providers,
There is no doubt that COVID-19 has on a much larger pool of cloud, SaaS such as AWS, Alibaba Cloud, IBM Cloud,
accelerated the uptake of cloud services in and other business services. As well as Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure.
Sub-Saharan Africa. Companies that might needing quick and instant access to data
not have considered these services before centres, enterprises will require seamless “Console Connect is continuing to expand
have gone through lockdown periods interconnection between their SaaS, cloud its ecosystem of data centres, cloud, SaaS
where they needed to provide hassle-free and other business critical services. and XaaS partners across Africa, the
home working and communications. Middle East and worldwide,” adds Neil.
“Network automation can help support the
For some, especially outside South Africa, development of Africa’s cloud and data To download the full Africa Interconnection
this requirement had already been on centre ecosystem. Console Connect’s Report, click here. For further information
their roadmap in the form of things like Software Defined Interconnection platform on Console Connect, visit:
future Bring-Your-Own-Device strategies provides African enterprises and carriers www.consoleconnect.com
for multi-location companies and with new levels of network speed, agility

68 JANUARY 2021