FedGov, DiData co-lo data centre opens in Canberra

The Canberra data centre purpose built for the federal public service and Dimension Data's government clients is operational.

Minister for Communications Malcolm Turnbull announced Monday that the Fyshwick data centre was open and that the Department of Human Services would be one of the first beneficiaries.

"The security and reliability offered by this new facility means the government is in a strong position to expand the services offered through its various digital channels," said Turnbull.

CRN reported in November that Canberra Data Centres was building the facility that was to co-locate Dimension Data's 14th Managed Cloud Platform – aimed at federal government clients – along with the government's own computer infrastructure.

The office of the Minister for Human Services stated that the launch of the centre "marks the near completion" of the department's data centre consolidation project. The work to rationalise the department's use of seven data centres down to two would "save taxpayers $24.5 million in leasing costs over the next decade".

Canberra Data Centres' Greg Boorer taking Zed Seselja, Malcolm Turnbull and Marise Payne on a tour of the new facilities

Minister for Human Services Marise Payne said that the new facility would play a crucial role in the upgrade of the welfare payment IT infrastructure, currently in progress.

"This secure facility is designed to ensure data is available 99.995 per cent of the time," said Payne. "This is a secure, efficient, 21st century data centre that will work hand-in-hand with the welfare payment system we will be implementing over the coming years."

Dimension Data's general manager for cloud, David Hanrahan, said the whole of Australia would benefit from Canberra Data Centre's latest facility. 

“CDC2 is a great addition to the Canberra market. The state-of-the-art design and CDC’s very specific focus on services for the federal government marketplace is the reason Dimension Data chose CDC’s new facility for our consumptive cloud platform, purpose-built for government agencies in Canberra,” he said.

Turnbull told the media in November the importance of shifting "away from the box-hugging mentality" and credited himself and finance minister Mathias Cormann with reforming public sector IT policy to a "cloud-first" one.