DCI plans to build new cloud edge data centre in Canberra

DCI Data Centers (DCI) has officially secured land and power to build a data centre in Australia. Named CBR01, the 20MW, TIER-III, Zone 3+, secure cloud edge data centre will service the Canberra market, according to a statement.

DCI Data Center's chair and Brookfield managing director Udhay Mathialagan says this new facility situated in the Poplars Innovation Precinct (Precinct), Jerrabomberra is the first to respond to the Commonwealth's mandate to supply geographical and supply chain diversity for Government and public cloud workloads at scale.

He says, "This new data centre is the first site to offer true resiliency in power provision that not only answers a call from the government to support their Cloud First Strategy, but will provide unparalleled security for our customers. It will also be one of the major contributors in driving urban development within the new Precinct."

According to a statement, DCI is one of the first to commit to the Precinct which has a focus on defence, space, cybersecurity and high-tech manufacturing sectors.

CBR01 will operate on a separate grid to Canberra. This is due to a multi-party agreement and investment between DCI, Poplars and other power users, that will see Essential Energy build a new 132kV powerline to Poplars, unlocking the site's development potential and removing barriers for other like-minded businesses to set up in the Precinct.

Mathialagan comments, "This separate grid will support cloud services and provides resilience for the Canberra market and Capital Region. It also means that with our commitment to the site, we will expedite the development of the Precinct which will positively impact the region for future generations."

Malcolm Roe, DCI CEO for Australia and New Zealand, says that their fleet of highly certified data centres purposely located in Sydney, Adelaide, Darwin and now in the greater Canberra area completes DCI's Australian strategic growth plan to provide a protective ring around the country.

Roe says, "We are delighted to announce that CBR01 closes the loop with the Canberra and Capital Region at our core. We have been aggressively implementing our growth strategy over the last two years which will inject $1.5bn into the Australian economy and transform the way we work into the future."

DCI is a data centre owner and operator focused on challenging the way facilities are built and operated. It brings together environmentally-efficient technologies and construction methods to enable the deployment of secure cloud and hyperscale compute environments.

The company has a growing fleet of data centres across Australia, New Zealand and Asia, with an underlying mission to become the preferred partner in the Asia Pacific region for the delivery of purpose-built, highly secure and resilient data centre solutions.

Since 2015, DCI has served public cloud and managed service providers, governments, and enterprises. It delivers mission-critical digital infrastructure with predictability, flexibility, and security; critical to scale and respond to market demand.

DCI is a portfolio company of Brookfield Asset Management and its investment partners.