NextDC to build $100m data centre in Adelaide

NextDC has plans underway to build a new $100 million data centre in Adelaide, South Australia.

The company has reached an agreement to purchase land in the city to build a new 10 MW data centre facility, the company told shareholders on Thursday.

The new A1 Adelaide data centre will be constructed in the Adelaide CBD, along with a Mission Critical Operations (MCX) tower.

It will be South Australia’s first completely fault-tolerant, Uptime Institute Tier IV certified data centre facility, the company said.

The centre will be located at 211 Pirie Street Adelaide and will offer direct cloud interconnection capability. The data centre operator said it would also offer mission-critical operational support, business continuity, disaster recovery, security, network and remote operations suites.

“We have been working very closely with NextDC to bring them to South Australia for some time, and I’m absolutely thrilled they have chosen Adelaide as the city they want to invest and create jobs in,” South Australian Premier Steven Marshall said.

“Their investment will go beyond the creation of the data centre and include the opportunity for collaboration with our state’s universities, ensuring a pipeline of skilled workers for the future.

As a company, NextDC is also passionate about energy sustainability and the renewable economy, very much aligning with our Government’s commitment to the circular economy.”

NextDC said it will work in partnership with the South Australian Government and inject significant technological capability into South Australia’s tech ecosystem.

Adelaide Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor said that the city was focused on building greater digital capabilities and attracting a broad range of businesses and investments.

“NextDC is precisely the type of business we want to see based here. Not only will the sale of 211 Pirie Street see a company with a strong global reputation further cement Adelaide’s reputation as an affordable and innovative place to do business, but the investment will also be responsibly used for the growth of the city.”

NextDC boss Craig Scroggie said the company was “honoured” to have been selected by the City of Adelaide.

“We are excited to be a part of the growing ecosystem of leading technology companies that are investing in the South Australian economy.”

“Our partnership with the South Australian Government was instrumental in developing our long-term strategy to support the growth of the state.

“This digital infrastructure development represents an important investment in South Australia, that will further support and accelerate the growth of the SA Government’s Digital transformation strategy”.

A1 will include an innovation centre to house an entrepreneurial incubation hub to develop capability in artificial intelligence, data analytics and cyber security. The new centre will also have a sovereign secured capability.

“NextDC is in good company here in Adelaide with the likes of Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, the Australian Institute for Machine Learning and the MIT bigdata Living Lab,” said Minister for Trade and Investment, Stephen Patterson.

“It’s always exciting to see investment coming into the state and with NextDC we will benefit from their passion for sustainability which aligns with our commitment to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.”

Green Industries South Australia boss Ian Overton said, “South Australia’s leadership in sustainability, renewable energy and circular economy is helping to attract companies like NextDC to invest in South Australia.

“We are looking forward to helping NextDC make this data centre a leading example of sustainability in action, adopting circular economy principles to reduce waste, use recycled content and reduce carbon emissions.”

Deloitte Consulting Australia partner James Allan said, “The growth of the technology sector, and the opportunity it presents for Australia, is dependent on having world-class digital infrastructure and assets, like that provided by NextDC.

“This Adelaide-based A1 data centre facility and technology hub will encourage growth of a technology ecosystem into South Australia, including global hyperscale cloud vendors, fibre optic network providers, and software-as-a-service solutions. And it is these services that are critical building blocks in supporting Australia’s innovation across digital economy and our global competitiveness.”