Mumbai : Sterling and Wilson Private Limited, a Shapoorji Pallonji Group Company, and one of India’s leading engineering, procurement, and construction  companies, announced that it has started construction of its second data centre for Raxio. The Company is Africa’s premier platform of carrier neutral, colocation, Tier-III data centres, providing industry-standard, carrier-grade facilities and services that serve as the foundation of Africa’s digital economies.

The facility will be the first independent and neutral Tier-III certified data centre in the country and will have a total IT load of 3 MW initially, with the capacity to scale up to 7 MW, and accommodate more than 1,600 racks. It features a cutting-edge design optimised for performance and energy efficiency. The project will be commissioned by second half of 2024.

Sterling and Wilson, one of the few players in India offering Turnkey Data Centre EPC solutions, will be designing and building the data centre facility with Tier-III TCDD certification from the Uptime Institute. Scope of work includes overall MEP and civil structure made of pre-engineered steel to ensure quality and time to market.

Commenting on this occasion, Mr. Prasanna Sarambale, CEO, Data Centre Business, Sterling and Wilson Private Limited said, “We are delighted to win and partner again with Raxio for their prestigious data centre project in Angola. The continued partnership further demonstrates the trust and leadership of S&W’s project management capabilities and global expertise. At Sterling and Wilson, we have a proven track record of delivering complex EPC projects and are confident that we can deliver a state-of-the-art data centre which will also meet the highest standards of quality, safety, and sustainability.”

“The demand for digital services and connectivity solutions in Africa has been steadily increasing in recent years. With the growth of the digital economy and the increasing use of cloud-based services, businesses across the continent are recognising the need for reliable, secure, and scalable data centre solutions. Sterling and Wilson which has already executed multiple projects in Africa, is perfectly poised to make the most of this opportunity,” he further added.

Mr. Robert Mullins, CEO, Raxio Data Centres said, “Our decision to build Angola’s first carrier-neutral next-generation facility reveals our commitment to a well-defined strategy to provide the country with vital digital infrastructure. With the arrival of new connectivity solutions and the continued evolution of the digital ecosystem in the region, we will continue to build scalable, world-class facilities to meet the growing needs for connectivity, storage and data processing. This is a response to the continuous increase in demand for digital services and the evolution of connectivity solutions in the region. In addition, Angola is geographically very well positioned to be a strategic connectivity hub for the region, making it an important market for our growing portfolio. As with all our facilities, Raxio Angola is being developed in strict compliance with our ESG standards, generating a positive impact through the direct and indirect creation of hundreds of jobs with the utmost respect for the environment.”

Sterling and Wilson commenced Data Centre services in 2015, and in a short span of time, it has emerged as one of India’s leading Data Centre EPC players in the sector. It has executed 20+ DC projects with total IT load of more than 60 MW, in India and international markets, with leading players like Telecom Egypt and MainOne (an Equinix company). We are currently executing 5 MW in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and 10 MW for a Hyperscaler in Hyderabad, India.

Sterling and Wilson Group is an established player in the whole of Africa and enjoys considerable goodwill in the region. The Group has been executing projects in Africa for more than a decade, across South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, Ghana, Rwanda, Tanzania, Togo, Nigeria, Mali, Niger, Zambia and Namibia.