AFRICLOUD

When we say Lisbon is strategically located, the numbers back it up. Our Lisbon data centre connects to São Paulo in just 70ms via the EllaLink submarine cable. That is faster than most US East Coast routes to Brazil, which typically add 120-160ms. For businesses serving Brazilian and South American markets, this means real-time application performance without the cost of local infrastructure. Database queries, API calls, and video streams all benefit from sub-100ms round trips. The same routing advantages apply to West Africa and Southern Europe, making Lisbon a hub for multiple continents. Full latency analysis and routing details: https://lnkd.in/eTFc_7yC Where are your users located, and what latency do you currently see?

Angola is undergoing a remarkable shift from oil dependency to digital innovation. The country is investing heavily in data centre infrastructure, startup accelerators, and digital government services. Luanda is emerging as a tech hub, and the demand for local cloud infrastructure is growing rapidly. For businesses serving the Angolan market, proximity matters. Applications hosted in Europe add 150-200ms of latency. A data centre in Lisbon cuts that to under 30ms via direct submarine cable routes. We explored the trends driving Angola's tech transformation and what it means for cloud infrastructure: https://lnkd.in/dhVueKBx Are you building for the Angolan or Portuguese-speaking African market?

Banking restrictions remain one of the biggest barriers to cloud adoption across Africa and emerging markets. Traditional payment methods often fail at checkout: declined international cards, unavailable payment gateways, and transfer delays that can take days. Cryptocurrency solves this. With Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT, and over 200 other coins, businesses can deploy a VPS in minutes without relying on traditional banking infrastructure. At AFRICLOUD, crypto payments are processed via NOWPayments with automatic conversion. No volatility risk, no chargebacks, and no banking restrictions. If traditional payment methods have ever blocked you from accessing cloud services, this is worth reading: https://lnkd.in/dxrSJVAs Have you used crypto to pay for hosting or cloud services?

Choosing a VPS operating system is one of those early decisions that affects everything downstream. Ubuntu is the most popular choice, but it is not always the right one. If you need long-term stability for production workloads, AlmaLinux or Rocky Linux give you 10-year support cycles. Debian sits in between: stable, minimal, and trusted by sysadmins for decades. The right choice depends on your use case, your team's familiarity, and how often you want to deal with major upgrades. We put together a practical guide covering the trade-offs between the major distributions, including security updates, package management, and community support. Read the full guide: https://lnkd.in/eyBVgg3U What OS do you run on your production servers?

𝗡𝗩𝗠𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗲-𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲 - 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝘀 E-commerce in Africa is growing rapidly. But there is a hidden infrastructure problem: many online stores run on servers with traditional SSD or even HDD storage, adding unnecessary latency to every page load and checkout. Here is why storage speed directly affects your bottom line: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Research consistently shows that every 100ms of additional page load time reduces conversions by up to 7%. For an African e-commerce store processing $50,000/month, slow storage could be costing $3,500 in lost sales. 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗡𝗩𝗠𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲: - Product catalogue browsing: Database queries for filtering and search become near-instant - Checkout processing: Payment verification and order creation happen without delay - Image loading: Product photos served from NVMe load significantly faster - Inventory updates: Real-time stock management without write bottlenecks 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀- NVMe: ~3,500 MB/s read, ~500,000 IOPS - Traditional SSD: ~500 MB/s read, ~50,000 IOPS - That is a 7-10x difference in the operations your store performs most If you are running an e-commerce platform in Africa, storage speed is not a nice-to-have. It is revenue. https://lnkd.in/daRTAFxR

𝟱 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘅𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 Not every workload is latency-sensitive. But for these five, the distance between your server and your users is a critical business metric: 𝟭. 𝗘-𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲 A 100ms delay in page load reduces conversions by 7%. For an online store doing $100k/month, that is $7,000 lost to latency alone. 𝟮. 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹-𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 Payment processing, trading platforms, and banking apps need sub-50ms response times. Users abandon transactions that feel sluggish. 𝟯. 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘀 Anything above 80ms is noticeable. Game servers, live collaboration tools, and video conferencing all degrade rapidly with distance. 𝟰. 𝗩𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗗𝗡 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻 Your CDN edge nodes pull from an origin server. If that origin is far from the edge, initial cache fills are slow and cache misses punish users. 𝟱. 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 GDPR, POPIA, and emerging African data protection laws require data to stay in specific jurisdictions. Location is not optional - it is legal. Which of these applies to your business? https://lnkd.in/gcHB_ZPR

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀 A startup in Lagos serving customers in Accra, Nairobi, and Johannesburg faces a unique infrastructure challenge: most affordable VPS providers host in the US or Western Europe. The result? 200-400ms latency for every API call, page load, and database query. For a fintech app processing transactions, that is the difference between a smooth experience and user drop-off. The solution is not building local data centres everywhere. It is choosing strategic locations with strong network connectivity to your target markets: - Lisbon: Excellent peering to West Africa, North Africa, and South America via submarine cables - Johannesburg: Direct connectivity to Southern and East Africa with sub-30ms latency to major cities African startups competing globally need the same infrastructure advantages as their Silicon Valley counterparts. The difference is choosing providers that understand African network topology. What infrastructure challenges has your startup faced when scaling across African markets? https://lnkd.in/dsbUh5Dk

𝗠𝗶𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗩𝗣𝗦 - 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁 Shared hosting works until it does not. If your site is slow, your email gets flagged because of a neighbour's spam, or you need SSH access, it is time to move. But migration does not have to be painful. Here is a practical checklist: 𝗕𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁: - Audit your current setup: files, databases, email accounts, cron jobs - Choose a VPS with enough headroom (start with 2x your current resource usage) - Pick a data centre close to your users, not close to you 𝗗𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻:- Set up the VPS with your stack (LAMP, LEMP, Node, etc.) - Transfer files via rsync or SFTP - not FTP - Import databases and verify row counts match - Test everything on a temporary URL before switching DNS 𝗔𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻:- Update DNS records (set low TTL 24 hours before) - Set up automated backups immediately - Configure a firewall (UFW or iptables) - Install fail2ban for SSH protection The biggest mistake people make: switching DNS before testing. Always verify on a temporary URL first. Full migration guide: https://lnkd.in/dhs6P-P5

𝗡𝗩𝗠𝗲 𝘃𝘀 𝗦𝗦𝗗 - 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲 If you are running a database on a VPS, your storage type is the single biggest bottleneck you can control. Here is the difference in practice: - Traditional SSD: ~500 MB/s sequential read, ~50,000 IOPS - NVMe: ~3,500 MB/s sequential read, ~500,000 IOPS That is not a marginal improvement. It is a 7-10x difference in random I/O - the exact operation your database performs thousands of times per second. Real-world impact:- MySQL queries that took 200ms drop to 30ms - PostgreSQL vacuum operations complete 5x faster - MongoDB aggregations on large collections become usable The cost difference between SSD and NVMe hosting is often less than $5/month. Yet the performance gap is enormous. If your provider still offers SSD as the default, ask why. In 2026, NVMe should be standard. All AFRICLOUD VPS plans include NVMe storage from $10/month. africloud.com/order

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗿𝗮𝘄 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘀 When choosing a VPS, most people compare CPU cores and RAM. But the single biggest factor in user experience is latency - and that depends entirely on where your server sits relative to your users. A 2-core VPS in Lisbon will outperform an 8-core VPS in Frankfurt for a user in Casablanca. Why? Because 15ms round-trip beats 45ms every time, regardless of processing power. Here is what actually matters when selecting a hosting location: - Where are your users? Not where you are - where they are - What are the network routes? Direct peering beats transit hops - Does the provider have presence in your target region? For businesses serving West and North Africa, Lisbon offers some of the lowest latency available from a European data centre. For Southern and East Africa, Johannesburg is the clear choice. The best specs in the world cannot compensate for physics. Choose location first, then scale resources. What is the first thing you check when choosing a hosting provider?