Digital infrastructure provider Digital Realty has expanded its presence in East Africa with the opening of its new 6.4-megawatt Nairobi Two Data Centre (NBO2), strengthening Nairobi’s position as a major hub for cloud services, interconnection and digital business across the region.
The new facility, located alongside the company’s existing Nairobi One (NBO1) data centre, increases capacity and connectivity within Digital Realty’s Nairobi campus while providing enterprises, cloud providers and network operators with expanded access to critical digital infrastructure.
The launch also marks the transition of iColo to the Digital Realty brand in Kenya and Mozambique. Digital Realty acquired iColo, a carrier-neutral data centre operator with facilities in both countries, in 2019.
With NBO2 now operational, the Nairobi campus offers customers access to more than 100 networks, two internet exchange points and a satellite teleport, creating a dense interconnection ecosystem designed to support content delivery, cross-border connectivity, data sovereignty and resilient digital services.
The satellite teleport adds another layer of connectivity by providing an alternative route for locations where terrestrial infrastructure is constrained, giving customers greater flexibility in designing geographically distributed and resilient networks.
Digital Realty said the expansion comes at a time when accelerating cloud adoption, enterprise digitisation and growing data sovereignty requirements are driving demand for locally hosted and highly connected infrastructure across East Africa.
Marcel Louw, Managing Director, Africa, Digital Realty, said the development would help position Nairobi as a critical gateway for regional digital growth.
“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 [global data centre and connectivity platform] PlatformDIGITAL to customers seeking resilient colocation, interconnection and hybrid IT solutions,” he said.
He added that the Nairobi campus would enable businesses to bring their data, applications and partners closer together while maintaining access to wider African and global markets.
“This campus gives businesses the foundation to bring data, applications and partners closer together, whether they are serving customers in Kenya, across Africa or around the world,” Louw said.
The NBO2 expansion underscores the growing importance of carrier-neutral data centres in supporting East Africa’s digital economy, particularly as businesses increasingly require reliable connectivity, low-latency access to digital services and greater control over where their data is hosted.
By combining additional power capacity with extensive network interconnection, Digital Realty said the Nairobi campus is positioned to support the region’s evolving requirements for cloud computing, hybrid IT, digital content and other data-intensive services.
