Data centres: Key NZ cities being 'neglected'

NextDC recently acquired properties in Melbourne and Brisbane for data center development. But as our government’s broadband plan takes shape the firm says it will put together a business case for a New Zealand data center because key New Zealand cities are being neglected.

Robin Khuda, Executive Director and General Manager at NextDC, told IT Brief, “We’ve seen a strong demand for specialist data center capacity with particular interest in carrier and systems integrator neutral, densely powered and yet energy efficient data centers, particularly in markets traditionally considered to be secondary, such as Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch in New Zealand, and Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth in Australia.”

He continued, “New Zealand broadband take up is one of the highest in the world driving strong demand for data storage, however so far there has been very minimal data center investment. The proposed broadband project by the government will also accelerate the data usage in future.”

Khuda added that global data center players such as Equinix and Global Switch – “who only invests in Sydney” – are neglecting key New Zealand cities as well as Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.

“Many Australian companies have offices in New Zealand and vice versa,” he said. “Our data centers will offer premium services to those trans-Tasman companies and drive ICT growth.

“We have already started data center construction projects in Brisbane and Melbourne and will put together a business case for a New Zealand data center over the coming months.”