Three companies added to list of ‘Certified Strategic’ data centre providers

Three data centre providers have been added to the list of those that are ‘Certified Strategic’ by the Digital Transformation Agency’s (DTA) Hosting Certification Framework, doubling the number of companies on the list.

The new additions are global providers NextDC, Equinix Australia and Fujitsu Australia joining the local providers who were certified in June this year, Australian Data Centres (ADC), Canberra Data Centres (CDC) and Macquarie Telecom.

The Certified Strategic designation is the highest level of assurance, above ‘Certified Assured’ and ‘Uncertified’, and allows the Government some level of control over strategic direction, operation and ownership of the companies.

Equinix Australia had its CA1, SY3, SY4, SY5, SY6, SY7, PE2 and ME4 centres certified.

Fujitsu Australia’s Western Sydney and Homebush centres were given the certification.

NextDC had its Perth 1 and 2, Sydney 1 and 2, Melbourne 1 and 2, Brisbane 1 and 2, and Canberra 1 certified. 

Macquarie Telecom and CDC also saw an expansion of their sites that were certified, As reported by CRN sibling site iTnews.

All of CDC’s sites are now certified, H1, H2, H3, H4, F1, F2, EC1, EC2 and EC3, and Macquarie Telecom now has two, IC4 and IC5. 

Update 27 Aug 2021: Two further MacTel sites, IC1, IC2 & IC3, were recently added to the list.

The Hosting Certification Framework took over from the Australian Signals Directorate’s (ASD) Cloud Services Certification Program (CSCP) in July of last year. 

Some of the data centre providers that serve Government Departments and were certified under that program have not yet become certified under the new Framework. 

CRN reached out to one of these providers but had not heard back by the time of publication.

NextDC released a statement on its certification, in which its chief customer and commercial officer David Dzienciol commented, “We applaud the Government’s decisive action around only partnering with leading Australian data centre services companies that are independently verified as being able to safeguard the escalating volumes of sensitive government-held data.

“With digital transformation and cloud migration accelerating rapidly right across the economy, data has become the most valuable business resource, and Government agencies manage some of the most sensitive information in existence.”