“We are deadly serious about our data centre operations,” said Telkom CEO Reuben September, reminding the few hundred guests at the opening of its R350 million hosting centre in Bellville last November that he does not use the word “deadly” often.

Telkom’s push into the data centre space (branded Cybernest), is not about “let’s see how it goes”, he said. The idea is simple, says Pierre Marais, acting MD of Cybernest: “It is the logical next step for Telkom. Our VPN customers kept asking us when we were going to move further up the value chain.” September maintains that Cybernest is not a “Mickey Mouse operation”. The splashy launch in Bellville was not a “cold launch,” he said. It was a “hot launch”.