€ 7 million (R105 million) and 100 jobs in the pipeline by 2017, this is the extent of the Dimension Data investment in Wallonia, in collaboration with Win (Nethys). This investment originates from an initial contact made with D.D. in February 2015 on the occasion of a workshop organised in Johannesburg to present the assets of Wallonia to foreign investors.
The « Win cloud one », a brand new solution that is fast, flexible and adaptable in real time in function of the clients’ needs will be developed on the premises of the Wallonia Data Centre, located in Villers-le-Bouillet. “Thanks to this new technology, our clients won’t have to buy servers to save their data. It allows them to drastically decrease their infrastructure costs and they only pay for what they use”, as Philippe Naelten, CEO of Win (in Namur), explained to a journalist.
Another advantage of locating the datacentre in Wallonia is that the data will not be subject to foreign legislation.
“This investment is the result of a contact that was initiated in February 2015 in South Africa, as part of a trade mission when South Africa was designated as the focus market of AWEX. Although the main shareholder of Dimension Data is Japanese, the headquarters are based in Johannesburg” confirms Jean-Pierre Muller, Trade Commissioner of AWEX. “Following this initial contact, our expert, Ashley Lyon took over the project: he is best placed in identifying opportunities for data centres in Wallonia and will remain the contact for Dimension Data in case of further developments.”
The Belgian subsidiary of the group employs 700 staff and generated a profit of €250 million in 2015. This new project involves hiring 92 employees by 30 September and another 84 by 2017. The commercialization will start in September, with a total budget of €7 million, spread 50-50 between Win and Dimension Data. Depending on the commercial success (they hope to attract +/- 100 clients in the first months), further investments might be considered.
On a side note, it is worth mentioning that the South African Dimension Data is the main sponsor of the cycling team of Mark Cavendish and of the Belgian cyclist, Serge Pauwels, who finished 42nd and 2nd Belgian during the last Tour de France, just in front of our Gold Medallist, Greg Van Avermeat (44th on the tour and 3rd Belgian).