A new data center project will commence in the Northern Territory, to the tune of $120 million.
IOT Data Centers (IOTDC) will build the facility, slated for an early 2021 opening. The project aims to position the Northern Territory as a central data and communications hub, connecting both the east and west coasts and north into South East Asia.
As the first of a series of 10 other facilities around Australia, the centre, based in Darwin, means an immediate investment of $12m with an expected total project value in the Northern Territory of $120m with a further investment expected to integrate the Northern Territory to the rest of the IOT Data Center facilities in the pipeline, the company says.
IOTDC will deliver the Tier 3 (Uptime Institute Certified) city integrated data facility in fully operational stages, and will enable the Northern Territory to play a significant role in connecting the rest of Australia by providing additional information gateways into the SE Asian region.
Working together with Vertiv, TotalSecure, Wolfe Systems, Mist a Juniper Systems Company, TPG and Intersector Capital, the IOTDC facility has been slated for early 2021 with subsequent phases to soon follow.
"Data Centers are the core foundation infrastructure needed for economic growth. Ultimately data is what runs the world and with major impact events like COVID-1919, there is a natural acceleration in demand for data center services as people try share or simply stay informed," says Steve Shelley, VP Integrated Modular Solutions at Vertiv.
" We've all seen the challenges network providers are having with the sudden demand increase in Internet traffic. We are always demanding more of the Internet and everything we do lives somewhere, data centers. It will be a really important infrastructure piece for Darwins recovery after COVID-1919 dies down," he says.
The New IOTDC data center will bring regional benefits including better connectivity to both east and west coasts of Australia, Smart City initiatives and new customers from outside the Northern Territory enabling the growth cycle of new jobs and positive economic development in an accelerated manner.
"This is important to the Territory as globally the increased demand on the internet and data center services due to COVID-19 has created significant infrastructure challenges to businesses who are now dealing with the need to protect themselves from risk due to the newly introduced work from home strategies as well as major operators such as YouTube, Netflix and Facebook who have all seen unprecedented demand," IOTDC says.
" The IOTDC data center means that the NT will be one of the first locations in the world to see an upgrade in infrastructure capability in order to satisfy these needs," it says.
According to IOTDC, the Department of Trade, Business and Innovation has stated that the Northern Territory Government welcomes private sector investment and is actively working with the IOT Data Center proponents on the proposal.
"The proposed IOT Data Center project has the potential to advance the Territory's goal of being a digital leader in the region through the development of a highly secure, high speed terabit network," it says.
"By bringing investment from outside of the Territory, IOTDC is delivering an internationally recognised capability and preparing the region for inevitable demand which comes from better integration with the large international consumer markets in the region and new requirements to service emerging technology industries," the company says.