IOT Data Centres (“IOTDC”), announce the commencement of a $120m Data Centre project to start in the Northern Territory. The IOTDC facility, slated for an early 2021 opening, positions 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 Darwin centre 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 Centre facilities in the pipeline. IOTDC announces phase one of their Data Centre facility to be located in the Northern Territory. A $120m investment that will deliver a Tier 3* (Uptime Institute Certified) city integrated data facility into the closest major Australian city to South East Asia.
The state-of-the-art facility which will be delivered in fully operational stages, enables the Northern Territory to play a significant role in connecting with 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.
Steve Shelley, vice president of integrated modular solutions at Vertiv, a global provider of critical digital infrastructure and continuity solutions, believes, "Data centres are the core foundation infrastructure needed for economic growth. Ultimately, data is what runs the world and there is a natural acceleration in demand for data centre services, as people and businesses rely more on the digital ecosystem for activities including banking, shopping, education, remote work and entertainment. We are always demanding more of the internet and more than ever, our daily lives depend on data and data centres. This will be a really important infrastructure piece for Darwin’s recovery."
The New IOTDC data centre brings regional benefits like; better connectivity to both East and West coasts of Australia, Smart City initiatives and new customers from outside the 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 centre services due to Covid19 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. The IOTDC data centre 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.
When asked on the implications of the IOTDC project to the Territory a representative of the Department of Trade, Business and Innovation stated that “The Northern Territory Government welcomes private sector investment and is actively working with the IOT Data Centre proponents on the proposal. The proposed IOT Data Centre 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.”
By bringing investment from outside of the Territory, IOTDC is delivering an internationally recognized 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. TPG, soon to be a part of the merged Vodaphone-TPG organisation, has recently provided to IOTDC, terms in relation to its services within this project. IOTDC believes that these favourable terms enable it to create new enterprise capability in the region, aligned with the NT’s Terabit Territory aspirations.
The project will create great impetus and opportunity for the Territory in terms of technology related businesses which will not only support the NT but also the rest of the country as it increases its role in the development of future technology connectivity in South East Asia. Supporting this view, the expected head of the new Vodafone-TPG organisation Iñaki Berroeta has said “Right now, we want to be part of the solutions, and offer constructive suggestions about how to best manage the challenges our industry is currently facing…As a new third force in providing full service connectivity solutions for the enterprise and public sectors, we will be motivated to provide better, more up-to-date solutions for our customers. This will help business and government to overcome the problems of older technologies, and in turn will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Australia private and public sectors.”
