mtn cote d’ivoire’s bold new digital world - flexenclosure ecentre... · mtn cote...
TRANSCRIPT
Case Study
www.flexenclosure.com 1
MTN Cote d’Ivoire’s Bold New Digital World
The ChallengeAs the leading telecoms operator in Cote d’Ivoire, MTN
constantly strives to deliver the best and most complete
service to its customers.
MTN wanted to evolve from traditional telephony service
provision – based on voice and SMS – to a more mature
set of mobile services such as broadband Internet, mobile
money, video on demand, etc. It also wanted to establish
the capability to create an entirely new market in the
country – providing innovative data hosting services for its
Enterprise customers.
In order to achieve these ambitious goals, a major
infrastructure upgrade and expansion project needed to
be undertaken.
Flexenclosure AdvantageBy deploying Flexenclosure eCentres, MTN Cote d’Ivoire
has been able to capitalise of a number of significant
eCentre differentiators:
• Aguaranteedproduct,withguaranteedenergy
efficiency, in a guaranteed time, at a guaranteed price
and with very low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
• Maximumpreparationandtestinginthefactoryin
Sweden ensures extremely fast installation on site,
resulting in a project duration typically five times shorter
than that for a brick and mortar facility
The SolutioneCentre by Flexenclosure – a complete, pre-fabricated,
pre-equipped, custom designed modular solution to house
and power data and telecom equipment.
Two identical 336sqm eCentres – each incorporating
discrete switching centre, energy centre and hosted data
centre areas – will provide MTN Cote d’Ivoire not only with
the immediate capacity it needs, but also with the modern
infrastructure required to manage the on-going expansion
of its data traffic and to pioneer new value added and
hosted data services across the country.
Delivered as a full turnkey project including all civil works,
installation of the eCentre and re-location of some existing
equipment to the new sites.
• Afuture-proofedtechnicalbuildingwhereadditional
fully customised internal space can be created easily,
on demand and without any operational disruption
• Designedwithultraefficientcoolingandpowersystems,
Flexenclosure calculates and can guarantee a PUE value
for every deployment
And with extensive experience deploying technical facilities
in the most challenging environments in over 50 countries,
Flexenclosure brings creative ideas, fully tested solutions
and total peace of mind…. fast.
www.flexenclosure.com 2
An Interview with Jerome Curtis General Manager Capital Programs, MTN Cote d’Ivoire
How will your new eCentres support your strategic objectives in Cote d’Ivoire?
“At MTN Cote d’Ivoire our vision is to lead the delivery of a bold new digital world to
our customers and we work hard to provide them with the best possible service.
In order to turn our vision into reality, we needed to undertake a huge project to
modernise and expand our network infrastructure. Building two new data centres is a
key part of this and we are implementing the latest technology to guarantee network
availability, stability, redundancy and capacity, as well as providing the foundation for
offering new high value added services for our customers.”
What exactly are you building?
“We are building two identical data centres, both of which are to be located in Abidjan, the economic capital of Cote
d’Ivoire. Each facility covers 336m2 and they are divided into three areas: a switching centre, an energy centre and a hosting
data centre which will provide us with the platform to offer new enterprise-focussed cloud services.
Both of these facilities will be centrally managed from our national network operation centre.”
Initial constructionAll eCentres are constructed, extensively
tested and pre-commissioned under
controlled conditions in a clean-room
factory environment in Sweden. This allows
for precise predictability in relation to cost,
time and quality and a significantly reduced
total project time, especially the time spent
on site.
Arrival on siteThe fully equipped modules arrive by truck
and are “unwrapped”, ready to be lifted into
place. In this way eCentres can be easily and
quickly deployed, allowing for the almost
immediate establishment of advanced
technical facilities anywhere - an impossible
goal when building with brick and mortar.
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How are these data centres different from those you have built before?
“This is the first time that a prefabricated modular data centre has ever been constructed in Cote d’Ivoire, and it has been
done very fast. Flexenclosure did most of the technical installation and testing in their factory in Sweden and then
constructed the first data centre on site in just two weeks.
This modular solution is also fully scalable, so we can quickly and easily increase the size of the facilities whenever we need
to expand network capacity. And the data centres are optimised for energy efficiency so we can be sure we are responsibly
managing the use of our country’s resources.
Ultimately they will help bring MTN and Cote d’Ivoire up to the standards of the most technologically advanced countries in
the world in terms of ICT infrastructure.”
Why did you choose Flexenclosure?
“We have entered into a strategic partnership with Flexenclosure to build our new data centres for a number of important
reasons. First, we wanted a high quality solution that would allow us to easily modernise and expand our network
infrastructure and service offerings to our customers.
Second, we needed these new fully turnkey facilities up and running as fast as possible, and Flexenclosure is the only
company we found who could provide both the quality we wanted and the speed of implementation.
And third, Flexenclosure has a strong track record of experience in successfully delivering data centres to other MTN group
companies across Africa. So we were comfortable they would provide exactly what we need to achieve our strategic
objectives in Cote d’Ivoire.”
Site assemblyThe modules are lifted into place one by
one. In this instance, all eight modules were
placed in less than a day, ready for final
hook up and commissioning.
eCentre’s modular construction allows for
easy expansion when required, and its fully
open-plan interior is infinitely customisable
as required.
Hook up completeThe specialist Flexenclosure personnel who
build the eCentre modules in Sweden also
travel to site to complete the final hook up,
commissioning and customer hand-over
process. This end-to-end management by a
single team ensures continuity and reduces
risk throughout the entire project.
www.flexenclosure.com 4
ECEN-M-CAS-005 (Rev 0)
“[The eCentres] will help bring MTN and Cote d’Ivoire up to the standards of the most technologically advanced countries in the world in terms of ICT infrastructure. So we were comfortable they would provide exactly what we need to achieve our strategic objectives in Cote d’Ivoire.”
Jerome Curtis, General Manager Capital Programs, MTN Cote d’Ivoire
About Flexenclosure
Flexenclosure is a designer and manufacturer of intelligent power management
systems and prefabricated data centres for the ICT industry. The company
provides systems that are fully integrated, modular, factory tested for reliability,
adaptable to local conditions and quick to install.
eCentres are custom-designed, prefabricated data centre buildings that are
fast to deploy, energy efficient and easy to expand. eCentre is a future proofed
state-of-the-art technical facility that provides a flexible and expandable open
floor space and is optimised for energy efficiency.
eSite is a hybrid power system for off-grid and bad-grid cell sites that cuts
diesel costs by up to 90 per cent. eSite is an integrated single-cabinet system
for maximum reliability and speed of installation. eManager, a remote site
management and KPI reporting tool, is an integral part of the product.
Flexenclosure was founded in 1989 and is based in Vara, Sweden,
headquartered in Stockholm and with additional offices in in India, Kenya,
Malaysia, Mozambique, Nigeria, and the UAE. Customers include airtel, MTN,
Vodacom and Zain.