Summary of RFI178/2026/27: Neutral Data Centre Hosting Facilities

Objectives

The primary objective is to collect comprehensive market intelligence regarding the operational capabilities and commercial structures of data centre operators in the Greater Cape Town area. This information will inform future procurement strategies, enabling the municipality to enhance geographical diversity, improve network resilience, access cloud services, and ensure business continuity through redundant hosting for critical systems.

Scope

This Request for Information targets licensed data centre operators providing carrier-neutral colocation, interconnection, and internet exchange (peering) services within Cape Town. The survey encompasses facility locations, capacity metrics, reliability standards, colocation pricing models, physical connectivity options, direct interconnection support, and Internet Exchange Point configurations. Respondents must provide accurate operational and commercial data to validate market viability for potential future competitive bidding processes.

Technical Requirements

• Facilities must operate with strict vendor neutrality, remaining independent of specific network operators or service providers.
• Provide verified Tier ratings and historical uptime percentages for each location.
• Detailed colocation infrastructure reporting, including total rack counts, customer volumes, current utilization rates, and indicative monthly pricing per cabinet and per kilowatt of power.
• Confirm compatibility with fibre network operators and cable providers, including explicit support for microwave and satellite installations.
• Allow municipal extension of proprietary network infrastructure into the facility.
• Specify direct interconnection capabilities, including supported interconnect counts and associated setup, cross-connect, and port fees.
• Outline Internet Exchange Point offerings, detailing the operating entity, scale, number of peering Autonomous System Numbers, traffic capacity, port availability, Network Time Protocol services, and membership/port fee structures.

Skills Requirements

Respondents must demonstrate advanced expertise in carrier-neutral data centre management, high-availability network architecture, and IXP operations. Providers should exhibit proficiency in regulatory compliance, transparent commercial structuring, and the accurate documentation of technical specifications, uptime records, and scalability metrics. Familiarity with municipal supply chain protocols and the ability to participate in optional proof-of-concept validation phases is also expected.

Explanation of Technical Terms

• Vendor Neutrality: Indicates an independent facility that does not favour or restrict specific telecom carriers or cloud providers, enabling seamless multi-vendor interoperability and unbiased service selection.
• Peering & Internet Exchange Points (IXPs): Mechanisms allowing different internet networks to connect directly and exchange traffic locally. This reduces latency, lowers bandwidth costs, and improves routing efficiency.
• Tier Rating: A standardized classification system evaluating data centre design, redundancy, and fault tolerance. Higher tiers indicate greater operational resilience and stricter uptime guarantees.
• NTP (Network Time Protocol): A networking protocol used to synchronize device clocks across systems. It is essential for accurate audit trails, security authentication, certificate validation, and distributed database consistency.
• Proof of Concept (PoC): An optional, non-binding demonstration phase where suppliers may validate proposed solutions. Participation carries no financial obligation or guarantee of future contracts, serving solely to verify technical claims.