By Emma Okonji
In line with the National Broadband Strategy to enable local content and increase job creation in Nigeria, West Africa’s leading connectivity and data center solutions company, MainOne has entered into a strategic partnership with Whogohost, Nigeria’s premier hosting domain provider, and Intel, the world’s leading technology company, to provide cloud-hosted servers for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria.
The service is delivered through the cloud platform of MainOne’s data center company, MDX-i, which is powered by the Intel Cloud Processors and is aimed at bringing the advantages of in-country cloud services to Nigerian businesses.
Speaking during the press launch of the service, Senior Marketing Manager, Tayo Ashiru highlighted the revolutionary impact of cloud solutions on businesses in terms of efficiency, cost savings and flexibility. According to him, the service provided by the partnership is a welcome development for Nigeria’s start-ups and small businesses. He said “There are many obstacles for businesses in Nigeria which impact their ability to scale up and maintain an online presence within the country. Our partnership with Whogohost, a leading web solutions company provides domain registration, web hosting and cloud services out of our Tier III certified data center, MDX-i allowing businesses to scale up on their IT needs on an on-demand basis.”
“This service is specifically targeted at the lower segment of the enterprise market and leverages Intel’s cloud technology and infrastructure. In addition, the collaboration is designed to minimize SMEs dependency of using forex for domain registration and web hosting, which is a recurring and unpredictable expenditure,” Ashiru added.
The Chief Executive Officer of Whogohost, Toba Obaniyi, who expressed delight at the partnership, stressed that the joint partnership with MainOne and Intel was the realisation of his company’s vision to be the leading provider of scalable solutions for Nigeria’s start-ups and small businesses.
“With the rising cost of the dollar, and the increase of local consumption, local hosting is definitely the future. This partnership couldn’t have come at a better time,” he said.
Marketing and PR Manager, Intel Corporation West Africa, Adim Isiakpona, said: “Businesses want flexibility and choice in cloud deployment models to support innovation while maintaining control of their most strategic assets. Despite a willingness to invest in modern software-defined infrastructure (SDI), businesses find the prospect of doing so themselves to be complex and time-consuming.
Intel is easing the path with new processors, solid state drives and a range of industry collaborations such as this with MainOne and Whogohost to help businesses deliver new services at the scale and speed previously found only in the most advanced public cloud, ultimately saving cost.” WhoGoHost is an accredited .NG Reseller and is currently one of the top three .NG Domain Registrars in Nigeria. The company is also an authorised Google Apps Reseller in Nigeria and is a certified partner of Cloudflare, IBM, Interswitch and the Nigeria Internet Registration Association.
