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AirTrunk announces second APAC datacentre in Melbourne

AirTrunk has invested AU$100 million into the datacentre located in the Melbourne suburb of Derrimut, which will have total capacity of more than 50MW.
Written by Tas Bindi, Contributor
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AirTrunk datacentre facility in Western Melbourne

Image: AirTrunk

AirTrunk has announced the opening of its second Asia Pacific datacentre in the suburb of Derrimut in Western Melbourne, Victoria.

The datacentre has been in the making for 42 weeks, and when fully completed, will have a total capacity of more than 50MW of IT load across 20 data halls.

Sitting on top of 44,000 square metres of floor space, the facility's technical data hall area covers 16,000 square metres, while office and storage area covers 7,000 square metres.

"This will make AirTrunk Melbourne the largest carrier neutral data centre in Victoria, storing mission critical infrastructure for some of the world's biggest companies," AirTrunk said in an announcement.

The company has invested more than AU$100 million into the Melbourne facility, it told ZDNet.

AirTrunk claims the datacentre has been designed to comply with the Australian government's high security requirements and is part of its wider growth strategy across the Asia Pacific region.

The Melbourne datacentre, like AirTrunk's Western Sydney facility unveiled in September, is targeted towards large cloud, content, and enterprise customers in the APAC region.

The company said at the time that it is not fazed by competitors such as Equinix, Metronode, and NextDC because of its focus on "tech giants that produce large quantities of data".

"The adoption of cloud services continues to climb at an incredible rate. And as this data grows, technology companies need the flexibility to scale up their data requirements quickly, securely, and efficiently," Robin Khuda, founder and CEO at AirTrunk, said in a statement.

Victorian Minister for Trade and Investment Philip Dalidakis praised AirTrunk for selecting Western Melbourne to house the datacentre, and said it will drive employment within the state.

"This facility is a significant investment in our economy and we're thrilled that AirTrunk has chosen to expand its operations in Western Melbourne. With around 200 jobs during construction and more permanent roles when operational, this will have a positive impact on local employment," the minister said in a statement.

Nasdaq-listed datacentre company Equinix also has datacentres in Sydney and Melbourne. Its Sydney-based datacentres, which comprises SY1, SY2, SY3, and SY4, can set up direct links to the continent's two largest internet peering points, in addition to key submarine cable systems, including the Southern Cross Cable Head, the PIPE Pacific Cable, and the impending Hawaiki cable, which will terminate in SY4.

Equinix has been expanding its datacentres across the Asia Pacific region to meet demand for additional capacity and interconnection services.

Another datacentre operator Metronode also announced in July plans to expand three of its facilities in Australia, investing AU$150 million for the construction of three new data halls in Derrimut, Melbourne; Silverwater, Sydney; and Unanderra, Wollongong.

Metronode counts NSW Government GovDC as a major tenant in Unanderra, having consolidated 160 datacentres into two Metronode facilities under the GovDC initiative, which allows government agencies to access infrastructure and procure services from sellers in the GovDC marketplace.

Australian Securities Exchange-listed NextDC, which has facilities in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth, is also expanding its footprint in Australia. Its AU$75 million datacentre in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane is on track for completion by the end of 2017, while its AU$85 million datacentre in Tullamarine, Melbourne is similarly expected to be ready by the end of the year.

Development of NextDC's second datacentre in Sydney -- with a target capacity of 30MW -- has been approved under a 45-year "ground lease arrangement", and development is currently underway.

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