Teraco, Africa’s interconnected vendor-neutral data centre, said its African cloud exchange will ensure a low risk, a direct entry point for clients wishing to connect to local and global cloud providers
This ‘on-ramp’ is a vital, secure connection service that is housed within data centres like Teraco and provides direct connectivity to a host of cloud providers.
Since its launch, Teraco’s Africa cloud exchange has served the sub-Saharan Africa region and has become instrumental in keeping local traffic within Africa’s borders, as opposed to routing it back and forth across Europe. AWS Direct Connect, Microsoft Express Route and Google’s Cloud Platform are all available through the cloud exchange.
Andrew Owens, peering and interconnection specialist, Teraco, said the Africa cloud exchange is the neutral connectivity point where any business, ISP, carrier or managed service provider can connect in Africa.
“This investment into Africa will significantly impact the burgeoning cloud region. Aside from benefiting from the myriad of cloud connectivity options, there is also no limitation on capacity. Teraco purely charges a cross-connection fee and as a result, reduces the costs to connect,” he added.
He explained that access to multiple connectivity providers and business partners is an inevitable requirement of any modern enterprise. “Most enterprises want to avoid the public Internet due to potential latency and throughput issues. These challenges are addressed by private connect solutions. Through our cloud exchange we ensure a low risk, secure, direct, predictable connection to any client-selected cloud provider,” he noted.
By utilising cross-connections, Teraco’s Africa cloud exchange is a highly scalable, quick and cost-effective way to create a hybrid or multi-cloud IT environment. “It creates an ideal opportunity to move business-critical workloads and latency-sensitive applications to the public cloud. Through this approach, less network hops, higher carrier diversity and interconnectivity are automatically a part of a resilient and scalable network,” Owens commented.
In addition, cloud operators can take advantage of direct access to African terrestrial fibre, satellite connectivity, submarine cables and an open market for interconnection.
Using the Africa cloud exchange, Owens further stated that Teraco recently ran real-world latency tests from the Teraco cross-connection directly to resources deployed in Western Europe and resources deployed in South Africa via Microsoft Express Route.
“Lower latency and direct cloud connections are imperative for a cloud approach to thrive. Being able to assist clients within the enterprise to better serve their clients, providing not only interconnects but also lower latency,” concluded Owens.
