Standard Bank R2 billion data centre bleeding cash
Standard Bank‘s R2.5 billion tier-4 data centre in Midrand, north of Johannesburg is believed to be bleeding money as a large chunk of it remains unused.
According to industry sources, the bank is leaking in excess of R1 million per month in operating costs to keep the 65,000 square metre site running.
It is also understood that Standard Bank previously tried to offload the data centre.
Construction of the data centre was completed in April 2010 at an estimated cost of R1.6 billion, but without additional computer equipment.
Speculation suggests that the total cost of the facility grew to over R2 billion, with a source saying that Standard Bank was looking to offload the facility at around this price.
When BusinessTech queried Standard Bank over the future of the centre, the bank said:
Standard Bank is looking at ways of commercially optimising the capacity we are not currently using. The nature of the transaction may take on many shapes so it’s too early to speculate.
The building is 65,000sqm and has eight data centre modules of 1,500 sqm each.
The Samrand (Midrand) facility at the time of construction was the only four tier facility in the Southern Hemisphere.
Group deputy CEO at Standard Bank, Peter Wharton-Hood, said in 2010 that, even by 2014, the bank would be using less than 50% of the available capacity at the Midrand site.
The bank originally had its main data centre at the River the Club, near Sandton CBD.
A Standard Bank spokesperson said that the River Club facility is now used as a recovery site, and is managed and maintained as such, having been scaled several times in the past.
Standard Bank data centre in Midrand side view
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