Arke Technologies supplies servers, storage, racks, networking equipment and laptops to mid-sized and large organisations, public bodies and schools across South Africa, then installs and supports them under one contract. The hardware comes through Server Hub, our trading division, priced in rand with VAT included and backed by a local warranty.
In computing, a server is a computer, or a program running on one, that provides a service to other devices on a network: shared files, email, databases, websites, sign-in, name lookups or the correct time. The devices it serves are its clients, and the pattern of clients and servers is how almost every business system works, from the finance department's accounting database to a school's learner records.
A server computer is built to run continuously, so it carries redundant power supplies, error-correcting memory and drives that can be swapped while it runs. It is managed remotely through a dedicated controller, such as iDRAC on Dell PowerEdge servers or iLO on HPE ProLiant servers, and it lives in a rack or a cool, locked room rather than under a desk.
The word has other meanings, which is why a search for servers also returns dining room servers and side servers (sideboards), salad servers and wooden servers for the table, the fastest tennis servers and online game servers. This page is about computer servers and the hardware around them, one of our services.
The hardware comes through Server Hub, our hardware division, from a catalogue of more than 26,000 products, configured and bench-tested before dispatch; our team designs it in, installs it and supports it.
1U and 2U rack servers for virtualisation, databases and file services, 4U rack servers for storage-heavy and GPU work, and quiet tower servers for offices without a server room: new, certified refurbished or pre-owned, including Dell PowerEdge and HPE ProLiant machines.
GPUs for server workloads such as AI inference, rendering and analytics, from single workstations to NVIDIA AI supercomputers. See private AI and AI infrastructure.
NAS units, storage arrays, and hard drives and solid state drives in SAS, SATA and NVMe formats.
Server rack cabinets from small wall-mount and mini rack sizes to full-height floor-standing cabinets, with shelves, PDUs and a server rack UPS sized for load-shedding.
Switches, firewalls, Wi-Fi access points, transceivers, and wireless network dongles for the odd desktop without Wi-Fi. See network infrastructure.
Work laptops, notebooks, desktops and monitors, plus learner devices and interactive displays for schools. See learner devices for schools.
Windows Server and client access licences with the hardware, and Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace licences from Arke on monthly or annual terms. See software licensing.
A server rack is a standard 19-inch frame, measured in rack units, that holds servers, switches, patch panels and power distribution. Choosing an IT server rack or rack server cabinet comes down to three decisions: the height in rack units, from a wall-mount cabinet for a small branch to a full-height floor-standing cabinet; the depth, enough for the deepest server plus cabling room; and whether the cabinet is open-frame or lockable with perforated doors for airflow.
The server room around the rack matters as much: dedicated circuits, cooling that copes with a Highveld summer, fire detection, access control and a server rack UPS that bridges the switch to an inverter or generator and shuts servers down cleanly if that fails. Load-shedding makes power the first reliability factor for any server, new or refurbished. Where a building cannot give servers a safe home, we place and manage the equipment in a South African colocation data centre; see data centre and colocation services.
What is NAS storage? A NAS, or network attached storage device, is a storage appliance on the network that shares files and holds backups for many users, managed through a web interface rather than a full server operating system. Storage devices of this kind, Synology NAS storage among them, range from 2-bay desktop units to rackmount arrays holding dozens of drives.
A NAS is the simpler choice when the job is file sharing and backups; a server is needed for user management, databases or virtual machines. A common pattern for 10 to 50 users is one server for applications and a NAS as the on-site backup target. Larger estates add a storage area network (SAN), which presents block storage to virtualisation hosts over a dedicated network, where a NAS shares files.
Hard drives and solid state drives do different jobs. Hard drives in computers and NAS units still give the lowest cost per terabyte for archives and backups; SSDs give databases and virtual machines their speed, and SSD NAS storage suits busy shared folders. We configure RAID so one failed drive does not stop work, and pair every NAS with an off-site copy, because RAID is not a backup; see backup and disaster recovery.
Servers for sale online are priced on the box. What an organisation pays over five years depends on more:
We do not publish server prices here, because the configuration drives them. For current rand price bands, Server Hub publishes how much a server costs in South Africa (opens serverhub.co.za), a guide to the best enterprise servers of 2026 (opens serverhub.co.za) and five checks on where to buy a server in South Africa (opens serverhub.co.za). Computer servers for sale with an overseas warranty can cost more once freight, duties and downtime are counted.
