Cisco, Leading Edge DC to build data centres in Australia

Australian edge data centre provider Leading Edge Data Centres has struck up a partnership with Cisco to build and deploy a network of modular data centres in underserviced areas of regional Australia.

Leading Edge Data Centres’ (LEDC) stated mission is to provide businesses and communities in regional towns and cities with access to a fast, reliable and cost-effective network, achieved through a network of data centres delivering internet and direct cloud connectivity.

Leading Edge Data Centre’s first data centre is set to open in Newcastle in February 2021, with 10 more in NSW to follow. The second phase of the rollout will have 16 data centres deployed across Victoria and Queensland in 2022.

Cisco is supplying LEDC with the core network backbone infrastructure. Leading Edge said Cisco’s technology enabled the colocation provider to deploy a network with 99.985% uptime that enables real-time alerting of any networking issues.

Cisco can also promote LEDC service through its sales channels. Regional customers and industries with requirements in content hosting, IoT data processing, 5G deployment, digital mapping, agritech, autonomous machinery, telehealth and others represent something of a target audience for the partnership.

Cisco’s vice president for Australia and New Zealand Ken Boal said: “With the explosion of data and data processing and application processing power at the edge, Leading Edge’s data centre network rollout is perfectly timed to support regional Australia.

“We are proud to be providing the infrastructure which will power the network, as well as helping Leading Edge to grow their business through our sales channels.”

Leading Edge Data Centre chief executive Chris Thorpe said partnering with Cisco provided the company with confidence in providing reliable infrastructure.

“The network solution we’ve designed with Cisco means that we will be able to confidently support local SMEs through to hyperscale, intelligent edge deployments, distributed edge network and content deployment,” he said.