Digital Realty, a premier global provider of data center, colocation, and interconnection solutions, has launched its third data center in Lagos, South West Nigeria, which will not only shape the country’s digital future but also the social and economic fabric of its communities.
The new facility, tagged LKK2, significantly expands the company’s footprint in West Africa, reinforcing its commitment to advancing Nigeria’s digital transformation and fueling local economic growth.
It will also help unlock Nigeria’s market potential and accelerate its progress toward its 2030 development goals and the UN Sustainable Development Goals by providing enterprises with the capacity to grow and connect.
Speaking to Journalists on the sidelines of the launch at the prestigious Eko Hotel, Ikechukwu Nnamani, Managing Director of Digital Realty in Nigeria, noted that the new data center is a critical component of Digital Realty’s strategic investment in Nigeria.
“LKK2 is a significant milestone in our journey to support digital transformation in Africa. Our continued investment in Nigeria and the broader African region reinforces our commitment to enabling seamless global interconnectivity and providing a future-ready infrastructure platform for local and global enterprises,” he said.
According to him, the facility provides the essential infrastructure needed to support the nation’s burgeoning digital economy as it adds nearly 2 megawatts (MW) of IT capacity across almost 23,000 square feet (2,160 square meters) of data hall space, meeting the growing demand for scalable, high-performance infrastructure from both local enterprises and multinational corporations.
LKK2 is strategically located in Lekki, a rapidly developing coastal area, and is seamlessly integrated with the company’s existing LKK1 facility, which serves as the landing station for the 2Africa subsea cable. This powerful combination gives Nigerian businesses direct access to the 2Africa cable’s extensive network of over 46 landing points across 33 countries in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
The integration of LKK2 with the 2Africa cable landing station at LKK1 offers businesses low-latency connectivity, enhancing application performance and providing reliable access to global cloud and network services. This setup creates a robust digital ecosystem that supports innovation and positions Nigeria as a key player in the global digital landscape.
The impact of Digital Realty’s investment extends beyond just digital infrastructure. The company overcame significant environmental and infrastructural challenges at the Lekki site, including the lack of an access road, public power supply and fiber ducts, as well as the threat of flooding from the Atlantic Ocean.
To address these issues, Digital Realty constructed a 4.2-kilometer paved road, built a 33kV power line for a stable public utility supply, and engineered a massive flood defense wall to protect the campus for the next 275 years.
These efforts have had a profound local impact, transforming a once-quiet locality into one of Lagos’s fastest-growing urban hubs. The project has sparked significant economic activity, including the creation of new jobs, the emergence of residential estates, and the attraction of fresh investments, such as a new 50MW independent power plant and various beach resorts and businesses.
The LKK2 data center is designed and built to Tier 3+ standards, featuring a 2 MW IT load, 1260 square meters of IT space, and redundant power and cooling systems (N+1 power and N+2 cooling) to ensure uninterrupted operations. It also features six layers of controlled access and round-the-clock security monitoring, guaranteeing a secure and reliable environment for critical infrastructure.
With the opening of the Lekki Campus, Digital Reality becomes the first Carrier Neutral Datacenter provider to operate two independent datacenter campuses in Lagos, another first in the emerging Lagos datacenter market.