London, UK, - December 2, 2009

Telehouse and Teraco Data Environments Pty (‘Teraco’) today announced a key strategic alliance to meet the needs of customers seeking carrier neutral colocation and data centre space in South Africa.  Demand for space is being driven by global events such as the 2010 FIFA World Cup football, as well as the delivery of significant undersea cable networks and the rapid deregulation of telecommunications in the country.

Under this agreement, dedicated data centre space in Cape Town and Johannesburg will be opened under the Telehouse brand and operated, supported and maintained by Teraco to Telehouse’s global operating standards, which include detailed attention to power, cooling, security and customer-focused operations.

Tim Parsonson, Group CEO of Teraco comments ‘Telehouse has an impressive heritage in the data centre industry, a very strong international customer base and a reputation for high levels of reliability and security. We have built a unique facility in South Africa and we look forward to welcoming customers into the dedicated spaces, which will be known as ‘Telehouse Johannesburg’ and ‘Telehouse Cape Town’ respectively.
 
Discussing the strategic partnership Andrew Fray, Business Development Director at Telehouse London said: ‘This is a major step forward for Telehouse as we seek to establish our footprint in Africa. Teraco is an ideal partner as it is the first carrier neutral and supplier neutral data center operator in South Africa.  We can now offer Telehouse customers secure managed colocation space in two major cities and a one-stop-shop for those seeking space in UK, South Africa and, for that matter, other Telehouse locations around the world. This is a great opportunity for carriers, ISPs, ASPs and enterprise customers to establish a firm foothold in Africa to support their critical ICT infrastructures Telehouse aims to establish further partnerships in the region to meet the need for world class facilities’

Teraco’s Cape Town site was opened in February 2009 and the Johannesburg site will open in early 2010.  Both sites offer superior levels of power, cooling, back-up and security and room for further expansion.  The spaces are also very economical compared to some of the premium rates levied in Europe.  Telehouse Johannesburg and Cape Town will be attractive to any multinational company with physical operations in Southern Africa, particularly as the telecoms market deregulates and diversifies, thereby making South Africa a natural communications hub in the region.

‘With deregulation, we can predict rapid evolution of the market over the next two years.  Already we are seeing significant activity in the run up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup and now is a good time for companies to build a reliable point of presence here’ concluded Mr. Parsonson.