More than 50,000 websites with the .ke domain name will now have their businesses connected globally, quickly and securely following a partnership between Kenya Network Information Centre (KeNIC) and the East Africa Data Centre (EADC) in Nairobi.
KeNIC, the ‘.ke’ country code registry has moved its servers to EADC in a shift that targets 100 percent uptime of its service delivery.
The .ke domain name is gaining ground in Kenya compared to international domain names, such as .com, .net, and .org, as users experience more personal service in registering their domain names locally. The .ke domain also provides a national identification, promoting better local consumer engagement through national pride and greater trust in local operators.
.ke domains additionally give better search engine performance, making websites easier to find for Kenyan target audiences, which helps to generate more business, and keep more Internet content locally, thus increasing data and download speeds for Kenyan users.
However, until now, KeNIC has had to allocate considerable amount of its time in managing the primary servers, which the move to EADC will now resolve.
“Previously Internet connectivity and dependence on generators during power outages were some of the challenges affecting KeNIC’s operations. These problems will now be a thing of the past as a result of collocating our servers to EADC,” said KeNIC CEO Abdalla Omari.
The move comes as part of KeNIC’s drive to encourage Kenyan businesses to opt for local domain names, and to keep their Internet data in Kenya.
KeNIC’s ‘We are .KE’ campaign has delivered a 60 per cent increase in local domain name registration since the beginning of 2015, from 32,000 domain registrations when the campaign began to now over 52,000.
The Government needs to put 75 per cent of registered businesses online by 2017 (The National Broadband Strategy). Three quarters will be for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). KeNIC is a major facilitator of this vision.
Dan Kwach, General Manager at EADC, said by providing the technical environment to host KeNIC servers, EADC was allowing KeNIC to focus on this mandate with its data now secure.
“KeNIC can now focus on its core business. It should not be investing more on cooling, power and security just to host its servers. Let KeNIC focus on registering domains, and using more resources to sensitize the market on the advantages of registering locally,” said Kwach.
“The East Africa Data Centre is a Tier 3 facility built to the specifications of the Uptime Institute, a globally acclaimed data centre certification body that focuses on design of mission critical facilities, uptime and operational sustainability. We have invested heavily in cooling and power, among other essential requirements for a data centre, to achieve the quality expected of any data centre of international standards,” said Kwach.
EADC also links directly to all Kenya’s local carriers, including Liquid Telecom Kenya’s network service, thus allowing EADC to provide clients with reduced levels of cost and complexity.
Opened two years ago, EADC is the largest and most sophisticated data centre in East Africa offering carrier-neutral, secure and reliable space for dedicated hosting, interconnect services, co-location, disaster recovery, network-based services, applications and cloud services to carriers, network providers and enterprises from across the continent.
EADC – part of Liquid Telecom Group – is a carrier-neutral data centre in Nairobi and the largest and most sophisticated in East Africa, offering secure and reliable space for dedicated hosting, interconnect services, collocation, disaster recovery, network-based services, applications and cloud services. A Tier 3 data centre, built to international standards, it is the only purpose-built data centre in East Africa.
KeNIC is the entity charged with the management and the administration of the dot ke Country Code Top-Level Domain (.ke ccTLD) name. KENIC manages the Kenyan Domain Name Space by administering .ke in an effective, transparent and equitable manner, in the interest of the Kenyan Internet community and in conformity with global Internet policies.
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