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Digital Realty, the world’s largest cloud- and carrier-neutral data centre platform, has opened its new 6.4-megawatt Nairobi Two Data Centre (NBO2), expanding its data centre campus in Kenya as its iColo operations transition to the Digital Realty brand across Kenya and Mozambique.
iColo became part of Digital Realty through a series of transactions. Interxion acquired a 40% stake in the Kenyan operator in April 2019, before Digital Realty completed its combination with Interxion in March 2020.
The Kenyan business had continued operating under the iColo name for more than six years before the latest rebranding.
iColo (now Digital Realty) designs and operates advanced data centres in Kenya and Mozambique. It serves various clients, including telecom carriers, ISPs, IT providers, content creators, and financial services.
Built alongside the existing Nairobi One (NBO1) facility, NBO2 gives customers access to more than 100 networks, two internet exchange points, and a satellite teleport, which provides an additional connectivity route for locations where terrestrial infrastructure is limited.
The rebrand and launch were marked at a ceremony in Nairobi attended by Kenyan and US government officials, including Principal Secretary John Kipchumba Tanui, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Frank Garcia, Special Envoy on Technology Philip
Thigo, and representatives from the Communications Authority of Kenya and the Technology Service Providers of Kenya.
“The opening of NBO2 and our transition to Digital Realty are part of one story: the continued growth of Kenya’s digital economy and iColo’s evolution within a global platform. By combining our strong local ecosystem in Nairobi with Digital Realty’s global brand, we are giving customers the ability to grow in Kenya while connecting with the broader communities of carriers, clouds, content providers and enterprises,” said Wanja Muriithi, country general manager for Kenya at Digital Realty.
The expansion comes as cloud adoption, enterprise digitisation, and data sovereignty requirements reshape infrastructure decisions across East Africa. Digital Realty says the additional Nairobi capacity is designed to let customers keep critical data and applications sovereign while maintaining access to global platforms and routes to market.
“Digital transformation depends on infrastructure that is local, connected and globally scalable. With NBO2 now live, Digital Realty is strengthening Nairobi’s position as a gateway for East Africa and extending the value of PlatformDIGITAL to customers seeking resilient colocation, interconnection and hybrid IT solutions,” said Marcel Louw, managing director for Africa at Digital Realty.
