Live · OperationalVerified

iColo Nairobi Two (NBO2)

iColo (Digital Realty) · Digital Realty · Bogani East Road, Karen, Nairobi, Nairobi, Nairobi County

iColo Nairobi Two (NBO2) is a operational data centre facility in Nairobi, Kenya, operated by iColo (Digital Realty). Its designed capacity is 6.4 MW. It sits inside DC254's four-stage supply pipeline , see how Kenya's market stages up.

Compare iColo Nairobi Two (NBO2) with Microsoft–G42 AI Data Centre · iXAfrica NBOX2 (Tilisi)

Side by side

6.4 MW

Total capacity

Colocation

Facility type

N+2 cooling (per Digital Realty listing)

Cooling

2026

Opened

Overview

iColo's second Nairobi building on Bogani East Road, Karen, formally launched 7 September 2026 as Digital Realty strengthens Nairobi's position as East Africa's digital gateway.

Why it matters

Launched 7 September 2026 at an event attended by ICT Principal Secretary John Tanui, who framed it as part of Kenya's push to become East Africa's leading digital hub. Designed to serve cloud providers, financial institutions, enterprises and ISPs. Developing Telecoms reported (August 2024) a 6.5 MW IT load within a master plan of three data centres; the Digital Realty listing describes a 3,600 m² building with 2N power, N+2 cooling, PCI-DSS, ISO 27001 and 90-day CCTV retention. Capacity is 6.4 MW per Digital Realty's launch announcement (7 September 2026); an earlier iColo X post (January 2026) and Developing Telecoms (August 2024) cited 6.5 MW IT load, recorded as a pre-launch discrepancy. Digital Realty's listing places NBO2 on the Karen campus about 300 m from NBO1.

Where marketing and evidence diverge

A real, now formally launched, but still-ramping building: PeeringDB shows only two networks and a single exchange (record last updated September 2025), not yet a peer of NBO1 on connectivity. Commissioned (as opposed to design) IT load has not been published; ask for as-built capacity before sizing a deployment.

Certification position: ISO 27001 and PCI-DSS per the Digital Realty listing. No Uptime Institute Tier certification published.

Power

2N power; master plan includes a captive substation consuming over 20 MW at full build

Verification

Verified6 claims · 5 sources · Independent (1) · Press (4)

Last editorial evidence review: 2026-09-22

View evidence

Digital Realty (formerly iColo) opened the NBO2 data centre in Nairobi on 7 September 2026.

verified

Editor review 2026-09-22: opened 7 September 2026; multiple independent launch reports corroborate.

  • Tier 2 · IndependentPeeringDB facility record #14166 (iColo NBO2) retrieved 2026-09-22 · published 2023-10-15
    “PeeringDB record: name "icolo.io Nairobi Two (NBO2)"; Karen, Kenya; 3 networks present; record created 2023-10-15”
  • Tier 3 · Press/Secondarytech.africa: Digital Realty opens NBO2 and retires the iColo brand retrieved 2026-09-22 · published 2026-09-07
    “The ribbon-cutting at NBO2 in Nairobi on 7 September 2026 ... Nairobi, Kenya, gained 6.4 megawatts (MW) of data centre capacity on 7 September 2026, and lost a brand on the same day. Digital Realty, the American data centre operator that trades o[n iColo]”
  • Tier 3 · Press/SecondaryTechTrendsKE: NBO2 data centre launches in Nairobi retrieved 2026-09-22 · published 2026-09-07
    “NBO2 data centre launches in Nairobi ... NBO2 data centre launch deepens Kenya's push to become East Africa's digital gateway”
  • Tier 3 · Press/SecondaryITWeb Africa: Digital Realty opens 6.4MW Nairobi data centre retrieved 2026-09-22 · published 2026-09-08
    “Digital Realty opens 6.4MW Nairobi data centre ... Speaking at the facility's commissioning, John Tanui, Kenya's ICT and Digital Economy p[ermanent secretary]”

NBO2 is operated by Digital Realty, which has retired the iColo brand.

verified

Editor review 2026-09-22: Digital Realty rebranding confirmed in the launch coverage and operator material.

  • Tier 2 · IndependentPeeringDB facility record #14166 (iColo NBO2) retrieved 2026-09-22 · published 2023-10-15
    “PeeringDB record: name "icolo.io Nairobi Two (NBO2)"; Karen, Kenya; 3 networks present; record created 2023-10-15”
  • Tier 3 · Press/Secondarytech.africa: Digital Realty opens NBO2 and retires the iColo brand retrieved 2026-09-22 · published 2026-09-07
    “The ribbon-cutting at NBO2 in Nairobi on 7 September 2026 ... Nairobi, Kenya, gained 6.4 megawatts (MW) of data centre capacity on 7 September 2026, and lost a brand on the same day. Digital Realty, the American data centre operator that trades o[n iColo]”
  • Tier 3 · Press/SecondaryITWeb Africa: Digital Realty opens 6.4MW Nairobi data centre retrieved 2026-09-22 · published 2026-09-08
    “Digital Realty opens 6.4MW Nairobi data centre ... Speaking at the facility's commissioning, John Tanui, Kenya's ICT and Digital Economy p[ermanent secretary]”

NBO2 operates as a colocation facility.

verified

Digital Realty's site listing describes carrier-neutral colocation (editor review, 2026-09-22); the fetched press and registry documents describe the facility without the word 'colocation'. The editor verified this directly against primary documentation (2026-09-22 editorial review); the underlying document is not yet captured in this evidence store, so the rule-derived state stays as the internal signal. Upgrade-in-place follows automatically once the document is fetched and cited.

  • Tier 2 · IndependentPeeringDB facility record #14166 (iColo NBO2) retrieved 2026-09-22 · published 2023-10-15
    “PeeringDB record: name "icolo.io Nairobi Two (NBO2)"; Karen, Kenya; 3 networks present; record created 2023-10-15”
  • Tier 3 · Press/Secondarytech.africa: Digital Realty opens NBO2 and retires the iColo brand retrieved 2026-09-22 · published 2026-09-07
    “The ribbon-cutting at NBO2 in Nairobi on 7 September 2026 ... Nairobi, Kenya, gained 6.4 megawatts (MW) of data centre capacity on 7 September 2026, and lost a brand on the same day. Digital Realty, the American data centre operator that trades o[n iColo]”

NBO2 is located in Karen, Nairobi, on the Digital Realty campus about 300 m from NBO1.

verified

Launch coverage places NBO2 in Karen; the Digital Realty listing gives the Langata South Road & LRC Road junction (editor review). The directory's earlier street detail (Bogani East Road) is retained on the record but rests on earlier collection.

NBO2 opened on 7 September 2026 and is operational.

verified

Editor review 2026-09-22: operational (opened 7 September 2026); corroborated by launch coverage and the live operator listing.

  • Tier 2 · IndependentPeeringDB facility record #14166 (iColo NBO2) retrieved 2026-09-22 · published 2023-10-15
    “PeeringDB record: name "icolo.io Nairobi Two (NBO2)"; Karen, Kenya; 3 networks present; record created 2023-10-15”
  • Tier 3 · Press/Secondarytech.africa: Digital Realty opens NBO2 and retires the iColo brand retrieved 2026-09-22 · published 2026-09-07
    “The ribbon-cutting at NBO2 in Nairobi on 7 September 2026 ... Nairobi, Kenya, gained 6.4 megawatts (MW) of data centre capacity on 7 September 2026, and lost a brand on the same day. Digital Realty, the American data centre operator that trades o[n iColo]”
  • Tier 3 · Press/SecondaryITWeb Africa: Digital Realty opens 6.4MW Nairobi data centre retrieved 2026-09-22 · published 2026-09-08
    “Digital Realty opens 6.4MW Nairobi data centre ... Speaking at the facility's commissioning, John Tanui, Kenya's ICT and Digital Economy p[ermanent secretary]”

NBO2 has a capacity of 6.4 MW (Digital Realty launch announcement, 7 September 2026); earlier operator material cited 6.5 MW.

review

All launch coverage states 6.4 MW; the editor verified Digital Realty's official GlobeNewswire release (7 Sep 2026) stating the 6.4-megawatt Nairobi Two Data Center. The earlier iColo X post (January 2026, pre-launch) cited 6.5 MW IT load; recorded as a pre-launch discrepancy rather than silently overwritten, per the editor's action. The directory record now carries 6.4 MW.

Every claim is verified separately against tiered sources. The AI research assistant collects and scores evidence; DataCentre254's editor approves each verification decision and the full history is kept in an evidence ledger.

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