Melbourne telco Virtutel to build 20 data centres in regional Australia

Melbourne-based Virtutel plans to build up to 20 data centres across regional Australia in the next three years.

The company has partnered with Swedish designer and manufacturer of prefabricated data centre buildings Flexenclosure, which works with telcos and IT services providers in emerging markets.

Virtutel, through subsidiary VirtuDC, will deploy its first data centre in Albury, New South Wales, which will be followed by more regional cities across the country.

“We selected Flexenclosure for their deep experience in deploying prefabricated data centres in very challenging environments and their flexibility in making sure that the ultimate design was exactly what we wanted,” Virtutel managing director David Allen said.

“We are confident that Flexenclosure is the right partner for what is to be a significant rollout of IT infrastructure across Australia.”

Virtutel will be using Flexenclosure’s eCentre prefabricated data centre across all facilities, whose modular nature can allow for horizontal and vertical expansion where needed.

A “dark site” functionality will also be available where required, which will be remotely managed from a central network operations centre.

“We are delighted to establish this strategic partnership with Virtutel and excited to play a role in the execution of their vision for a new network of edge data centres in Australia,” Flexenclosure chief executive David King said.

“This also marks our entry into yet another new continent, further expanding our global footprint for our eCentre data centres.”