Data centre capacity could triple in two years

DATA centres are a long-established feature of the IT landscape, yet during the past year there has been unprecedented activity in this sector and the promise of more to come.

Two established data centres in Perth have changed hands, two brand new centres have opened, two more are under construction and at least another is planned.

Clearly the private sector sees big opportunities in data centres, which offer two fundamental services – hosting critical IT infrastructure, and supporting the emergence of cloud computing.

The state government is also driving change in the sector by moving towards the phased consolidation of Western Australia’s public sector data centres.

In terms of new suppliers, Brisbane company NEXTDC has confirmed plans to enter the WA market, after announcing an agreement to buy land in Malaga.

This will be part of a national network that entrepreneur Bevan Slattery, who formerly ran PIPE Networks, is in the process of rapidly rolling out.

Another national company, Leighton Holdings subsidiary Nextgen, is currently building its WA data centre in Shenton Park, and local company ASG Group is close to launching its $5.5 million data centre at Technology Park in Bentley.

Their moves follow the opening last year of two custom-built facilities.

Local start-up HPC Data Centres opened its facility at the Australian Marine Complex at Henderson, and international computing giant Fujitsu opened a large data centre in Malaga, with Bankwest as its anchor tenant.

On the takeovers front, Sydney company Vocus Communications has agreed to pay $7 million for PerthIX, while Datacom paid $10 million for MetroIX last year.

The new investments add enormously to the capacity and quality of data centre services in Perth and are similar to major investments being made in other states, and indeed in other countries.

Recent research by the Department of Treasury and Finance concluded that the capacity of data centres in Perth will triple in the next two to three years.

The new players, who all promote the high security and green credentials of their data centres, add to a sector that previously fell into two camps.

There were local players such as Amcom, aCure Technology, HostAway, Central Data Systems, ISA Technologies and DC West, which are largely independent suppliers to the market.

And there were the international players CSC, HP, Fujitsu and IBM, which have all been operating relatively small Perth data centres to support their broader operations in the WA market but were not actively promoting the service in its own right.

Competition in the sector is not restricted to the owners of data centres; there are plenty of smaller players that have bought rack space and market it to their clients.

This was evident last December when the state government appointed a preferred panel of five data centre suppliers – aCure Technology, ASG Group, CSG, Fujitsu, and IBA Technologies.

The state government’s strategy is driven by several objectives: meeting the government’s computing needs more efficiently; reducing energy costs; and getting ready for cloud computing, according to a presentation by the Department of Treasury and Finance.

The strategy also aligns with the government’s plan to relocate most departments to new offices, which will have no provision for data centres.

The options for government agencies, and indeed any user of a data centre, include using them as a disaster recovery back-up facility or as a co-location facility, where the hardware is located in a centre and managed remotely.

There is also plenty of growth being pursued by the likes of ASG Group and Datacom, which use their data centres fundamentally to support a managed services offering for their business clients.

ASG Group’s national manager technical solutions, Brett Gresele, said his group was targeting mid-sized mining companies that wanted to focus on their core business and be confident their computing needs were being looked after.

Mr Gresele said ASG’s new data centre at Bentley would be used to support the package of services ASG offered its clients.

“It was built to support our managed services clients,” Mr Gresele told WA Business News.

“It’s all the services that go around the data centre that make it valuable to them.”

In a similar vein, Datacom director of strategic development Mark McWilliams said his group was using its national network of data centres to offer client solutions, including around cloud computing.

“Our strategy will be a technology solution underpinned by enterprise-grade IT services and management discipline,” Mr McWilliams said.

Datacom bought the MetroIX data centre in Belmont last year and has since invested a further $2 million upgrading its capacity.

Local player L7 Solutions, led by Matt Sullivan and Brett Looney, is evaluating plans for its own data centre operation and is currently negotiating for some data centre space.

Leighton Holdings subsidiary Nextgen has a different strategic focus.

The group also operates as a telecommunications carrier and the sweet spot for Nextgen is to service clients that utilise both its data centre and networking capability.

The group already has a data centre in East Perth and the new centre in Shenton Park, currently being developed, will greatly boost its ability to service a wider market.

Nextgen describes its new facility as a next generation data centre; it said traditional data centres had 3.5 kilowatts of power per rack while its new facility will have 24kW as a standard.

“We believe we will be setting the benchmark for energy efficiency in data centres in Australia,” marketing manager Gary McCarten said.

HPC Data Centres believes its new data centre at Henderson also adds to the quality of offerings in the WA market.

Finance director Simon MacFarlane said HPC had positioned itself as being independent of any carrier and any vendor.

Mr MacFarlane said HPC’s pricing strategy was also a point of difference.

“We price what we do based on power, not space,” he said.

NEXTDC announced last month it has conditionally acquired a site in Perth to build a new data centre.

“This expansion is driven by anticipated customer demand for a carrier and systems integrator neutral data centre in WA,” Mr Slattery said in a statement.

“Customers want flexibility and NEXTDC is going to offer that nationally.”