Digital Twins Can Reduce Data Centre Failures, Experts Say

Mr Kayode Akomolafe, Digital Transformation Director at Amazon Web Services, has said digital twin technology can significantly reduce failures, improve efficiency and unlock new revenue opportunities in Nigeria’s data centre industry.

Akomolafe said this during a panel session on ‘Role of Digital Twins for Data Centre Optimisation in Nigeria’ at the IoT West Africa 2026 Conference and Data Centre Cloud Expo on Thursday in Lagos.

A digital twin is a virtual replica of a physical system that enables real-time monitoring, simulation and prediction of performance and failures.

Akomolafe said the key advantage of digital twins lay in their ability to generate deeper operational insights.

“They provide granular data that traditional monitoring systems cannot offer. You can see what is happening now, predict future outcomes and even monetise the insights,” he said.

Also speaking, Mr Johnson Agogbua, Chief Executive Officer of Kasi Cloud, said the technology could help address Nigeria’s biggest data centre challenge which was power.

“The biggest headache in Nigeria is power. The first place you apply digital twins is in energy and power management systems to understand how power behaves across the architecture,” he said.

Agogbua added that digital twins improves visibility and decision-making by simplifying complex data into visual insights.

“You don’t need to comb through millions of data points. You can visualise problems before they happen and take action early,” he said

Mr Morris Nmor, Regional Lead, Anglophone West Africa at Uptime Institute, said adoption of digital twins would significantly reduce operational risks.

“If adopted, failure will reduce drastically and efficiency levels can improve from about 70 per cent to near optimal performance,” he said.

Nmor noted that most failures occurred at the operational stage, making predictive technologies critical for reliability.

Mr Riaan De Leeuw, Business Development Lead, EMEA at Zutari, said digital twins could also tackle cooling inefficiencies, a major source of disruption.

“Cooling failures are often unplanned. With digital twins, operators can optimise cooling and reduce operational expenditure,” he said.

Prof. Ibrahim Adeyanju of Galaxy Backbone Ltd., said the technology could improve energy efficiency and cybersecurity.

“There is a lot of energy wastage in Nigeria. Digital twins can help optimise usage and reduce costs.

“Cooling is equally critical because once temperature rises beyond limits, the impact on servers can be severe,” he said.

Adeyanju added that digital twins could enable simulation of cyber threats and strengthen system resilience.

The experts agreed that integrating digital twins with IoT systems and artificial intelligence would enhance real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance and overall performance of Nigeria’s data centre infrastructure.