Innovation: Raxio in Ethiopia becomes first Tier III certified data center after receiving certification from Uptime Institute

Addis Abeba – Raxio Data Center in Ethiopia (“ET1”) officially became the first Tier III certified independent data center in Ethiopia after receiving the Uptime Institute Tier III Certification on 21 October 2022. “This certification was achieved after a diligent assessment and evaluation by the Uptime Institute’s expert international teams to ensure Raxio ET1 meets the stringent requirements of Uptime’s Tier III Certification,” the data center said.

Raxio Data Center kicked-off the construction of Ethiopia’s first private Tier III carrier neutral colocation data center at the ICT Park in Addis Abeba in March 2021.

With this certification, Raxio ET1 becomes one of the few Tier III, privately owned, carrier-neutral data centers in Africa to receive this designation, which also includes Raxio’s facility in Uganda. The Uptime Institute’s teams evaluated all aspects of the facility’s design and equipment, such as power, cooling, fire suppression and detection and others, in its certification process.
To pass as a Tier III compliant data center, the mechanical and electrical infrastructure must be concurrently maintainable, meaning the data center has redundant capacity components and multiple power and cooling paths to the IT equipment. Tier III data centers offer redundant capacity allowing each and every component needed to support the IT processing environment to be shut down and maintained without impacting the facility’s operation and provision of services to customers.

In addition to redundant capacity, ET1 also offers concurrent maintainability across all critical systems and subsystems, ensuring full redundancy in the event of unexpected shutdowns or failures. Concurrent maintainability is one of the most important design characteristics that clients require when outsourcing their data center needs, solidifying ET1’s position as a globally competitive facility.

Speaking on the announcement, Bewket Taffere, General Manager of Raxio Ethiopia says “Being awarded Uptime’s Tier III certification for ET1 is a clear testament to Raxio’s focus and emphasis on providing the highest quality of infrastructure and demonstrates the significant attention paid to the standard of services we are providing to the Ethiopian market. As an internationally accredited data center, ET1 will offer the quality and level of services customers require, improving Ethiopia’s ability to compete in an increasingly global environment. It took a lot of hard work and vision to make this achievement a reality, and we’re excited about the role we are playing locally and regionally, as Ethiopia continues to invest in the ICT economy.”

Robert Saunders, CTO of Raxio Group added “This is a clear commitment that Raxio is developing world-class facilities in terms of design and construction to serve our markets. By partnering with Uptime Institute, we are investing in the technical due diligence of our facilities that both our local and international customers expect. We have engaged in a long-term partnership; this being our second certified data centre with many more to come.”

The Tier III certification is an evident commitment that Raxio ET1 will deliver the highest level of service availability in the market for its customers, which will include colocation for primary and disaster recovery needs, cross connection and remote hands services. The facility will accommodate Ethiopian, regional and international customers in the fast-growing ICT sector in the country. The Tier III certification is of paramount importance to demanding customers that use the facility to host their business-critical equipment, such as those in the financial services and healthcare sectors, as well as emerging companies and international customers looking to offer the next generation of ICT driven services in Ethiopia.
The availability of a Tier III data center in Ethiopia is a monumental step forward in the provision of a technology infrastructure that will support hyper-growth technology enabled businesses, as well as the infrastructure for the growing number of internet users.

Raxio ET1 also incorporates environmentally sustainable features developed with international engineering and operations standards to mitigate the rising costs of energy, while respecting the environment. With the combination of Tier III services and an environmentally respectful design, Raxio ET1 is setting the standard for premium colocation services.