Pan-African connectivity provider, BringCom, in partnership with science and technology investor, Imprimatur Capital, and European edge cloud software company, GIG Technology, have together introduced afriQloud to provide the African technology industry with cloud sovereignty.
AfriQloud has been launched in Uganda and will provide local and international customers with an innovative and secure distributed edge cloud service.
According to Hans van Linschoten, founding partner of Imprimatur Capital Africa and chief executive officer of afriQloud they see significant potential in the growing African cloud market where an estimated $2 billion is being spent in the cloud this year.
“We are excited to bring this service to the continent. By the end of 2019 we will complement the few developed markets clouds with a powerful and local distributed cloud in at least 15 countries. This ensures data sovereignty for institutions and governments within Africa’s shores”, he notes.
According to afriQloud, most of Africa’s content on the internet is currently hosted on servers outside the continent.
“Implementation of edge cloud computing services in Africa has been adversely affected by lack of reliable and secure connectivity from various service providers. The cost of setting up ICT infrastructure with improved data latency and minimised downtime has also contributed to the slow adoption of cloud solution across the continent,” the company stated.
Mark Simmonds, Chairman of GIG Technology added: “Although cloud adoption is predominantly private, the African markets are generating growth of 30 per cent in public cloud sales. Few other ICT market segments in the African tech ecosystem have the potential of adding an incremental $2 billion in top-line revenue over the next 5 years.”
The Sub-Sahara Africa region is showing signs of increased maturity and responsiveness towards cloud adoption, according to Grant Bennett, Country Manager for SUSE South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. And this presents service and support providers in Africa with a clear opportunity.
Bennett said based on research the company conducted a few months ago, only about 11% of respondents said they either didn’t have a cloud strategy in place or had no idea what their management strategy was.
“About 76% of the market is saying they have a cloud strategy and it’s actually active (in terms of) where they are going to take the business forward. They’ve realised there is certainly a value around that … I think it’s up to the partners, SAP and ourselves, to show them how to derive that value.”
Fabrice Langreney, chief executive officer of BringCom, said, “Opening up of the global market will require African companies and organisations to be equally competitive in the deployment of e-solutions, scalability, secure data accessibility and connectivity in line with international standards.”
Willem Hendrickx, CEO of GIG Technology: “We believe in partnerships and the creation of a local economy using our cloud technology. Having assessed the cloud readiness of different African markets, we are thrilled to launch in Kampala.”
AfriQloud also aims to have the Edge Cloud installed in cities and tech hub ecosystems which hosts a high number of start-ups and developers.
