Oslo, Norway - February 9, 2026 - Smartoptics, a leading provider of optical
networking solutions, in partnership with HardwareCo, a fast-growing optical
technology solution provider, today announced that Teraco, Africa's largest
vendor-neutral data centre platform, has deployed redundant 100G DWDM links to
strengthen a key digital growth corridor between its two Cape Town facilities,
CT1 and CT2. The connection underpins Africa's cloud, content, connectivity and
financial ecosystems, delivering easy, cost-effective and low-latency access
across one of South Africa's fastest-growing routes for bandwidth demand.

Based in South Africa, Teraco, a Digital Realty company, operates seven data
centres across South Africa, supporting over 650 clients and 27,000
interconnects that facilitate connectivity for Sub-Saharan Africa. The company
serves as the region's primary neutral hub for cloud providers, global content
networks, financial institutions and telecom operators, enabling fast, direct
and secure exchange of data between partners.

Rising customer demand for 100G links between CT1 and CT2 prompted Teraco to
expand its backbone capacity. The compact 1U Smartoptics design minimizes space
and power use while giving Teraco greater fibre efficiency and flexibility
through breakout support.

"As Africa moves from 10G to 100G, DWDM equipment licensing fees have become a
real blocker for many," says Michele McCann, Head of Platforms, Teraco Data
Environments. "That's why Smartoptics' open approach immediately stood out to
us. There are no hidden licenses or vendor restrictions, and it's so intuitive
that our IP engineers could operate it after just a single day of training -
without needing to become optical transmission experts. This flexibility and
ease of use let us scale fast without worrying about pluggable compatibility or
hiring more staff to manage it."

The deployment was delivered in collaboration with HardwareCo, Smartoptics'
regional partner supporting projects across Africa. Completed swiftly and
without disruption, the rollout shows how an open DWDM paradigm cuts complexity
and speeds up time to service as Teraco can manage the system entirely in-house.

"We are very proud to support Teraco in achieving their high-capacity
connectivity between CT1 and CT2, and very excited to have partnered with
Smartoptics for this", says Mark Tinka, Managing Director at HardwareCo. "We
selected Smartoptics as our key DWDM technology partner because of their unique
approach to optical networking that is based on open standards and open
architectures. This has democratized access to DWDM technology in a way that
uniquely aligns with the challenges and goals of developing regions like
Africa".

"Africa's coastal regions are seeing huge new waves of subsea capacity, but
getting that bandwidth inland efficiently is the next big challenge. Teraco's
investment shows how open optical networking with no license fees can bridge
that gap, enabling scalable, cost-effective transport that matches the
continent's growth and future demand. We're proud to support Teraco in this
effort together with HardwareCo, helping make Africa's data routes as open and
dynamic as its digital ambitions and signalling that the region is ready for
global-scale platforms," says Magnus Grenfeldt, CEO, Smartoptics.

For more information please contact:
Magnus Grenfeldt
CEO
Smartoptics
+46 73-366 88 77
E-mail: [email protected]

About Smartoptics
Smartoptics provides innovative optical networking solutions and devices for the
new era of open networking. Our customer base includes thousands of enterprises,
governments, cloud providers, Internet exchanges as well as cable and telecom
operators. We have an open networking approach in everything we do which allows
our customers to break unwanted vendor lock-in, remain flexible and minimize
costs. Our solutions are used in metro and regional network applications that
increasingly rely on data center services and specifications. Smartoptics is a
Scandinavian company founded in 2006. We partner with leading technology and
network solution providers such as Brocade, Cisco and Dell and have a global
reach through more than 100 business partners.
For additional information about Smartoptics, please visit
https://smartoptics.com/ (https://www.smartoptics.com/)

About Teraco
Teraco, a leading carrier-neutral colocation provider in Africa, is the first
provider of highly resilient, vendor-neutral data environments in sub-Saharan
Africa. With its world-class data centre infrastructure and network-dense
ecosystems, Teraco forms a vital part of the African internet's backbone and is
essential to the modern enterprise's digital transformation strategy. Teraco is
majority-owned by Digital Realty (NYSE:
DLR (https://investor.digitalrealty.com/overview/investor-relations
-overview/default.aspx)) - offering clients a global data centre platform
designed to enable digital businesses to scale within a highly connected data
community across 300+ facilities in 50+ metros across 25+ countries on six
continents - and a consortium of private equity investors, including Berkshire
Partners LLC and Permira. For more information, please
visit teraco.co.za (https://www.teraco.co.za/) or follow us
on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/teracodc/) and X (https://twitter.
c
om/teracodc).

About HardwareCo
HardwareCo is a specialized telecommunications hardware provider delivering high
-performance DWDM optical solutions, IP/MPLS/Ethernet devices, and pluggables.
We serve network operators, data centre operators and enterprise IT teams, with
a sharp focus on distribution, resale, installation, and integration of advanced
network systems. Small, fast, and highly focused, HardwareCo is your agile
partner for scalable, future-ready infrastructure.
For additional information about HardwareCo, please visit
https://hardwareco.net/