Equinix announces $15m expansion

US company Equinix has announced plans to expand its Shenton Park data centre while seeking to differentiate itself from the likes of NEXTDC and Fujitsu, which are also upgrading their Perth data centre operations.

Equinix intends to invest $US11 million ($A15 million) at its PE2 data centre, to meet strong demand for what it calls a digital interconnection hub in WA.

Equinix Australia managing director Jeremy Deutsch said the company was targeting a different type of customer to other data centre operators.

“We just don’t sell data centre space as a wholesale provider where you take a bit of square metreage and some power,” he said.

“We do a very different model; we’re an interconnection company that leverages data centres.”

Mr Deutsch said Vocus Group’s Australia Singapore Cable, which is nearing completion, will terminate at Equinix’s PE2 data centre and be a key part of its strategy.

“Around that, we’re looking to create an environment where we have a large number of network service providers who can plug into each other and connect, swap traffic, exchange business.

“That will facilitate us supporting content providers, who want to provide online services, because they can access all the networks.

“Then we will look at supporting cloud service providers.

“Success for us is having a lot of different people inside this environment.”

Mr Deutsch said Equinix would offer direct and secure connections to all major cloud service providers such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud and Microsoft Azure. 

The expansion of PE2 will add 225 ‘cabinets’ and an estimated colocation space of more than 550 square metres to the facility.

Upon completion, scheduled for early next year, PE2 will have a total capacity of 700 cabinets and an estimated colocation space of 1,720 square metres.

Today’s news comes eight months after Equinix’s $1 billion acquisition of Metronode, which had 15 data centres across Australia, including in central Perth and Shenton Park.

The Equinix expansion comes as Fujitsu Australia is in the midst of a $17 million upgrade of its Malaga data centre, where it is aiming to gain a competitive edge by securing tier IV certification.

Tier IV is the highest level of industry certification and essentially is based on the amount of time the facility is fully operational.

A Fujtisu spokesperson said the Malaga project was part of a national upgrade program and the overall scope of work was scheduled to be completed by April 2019.

NEXTDC is also aiming for Tier IV certification at its planned East Perth data centre.

The ASX-listed company is already in the process of developing a fourth and final data hall at its Malaga (P1) data centre.

It has invested $57 million at Malaga, which has an installed capacity of 4.1 megawatts and a total planned capacity of 6MW.

The company announced in April it has spent $22 million acquiring land for its East Perth (P2) centre.

It will invest a further $80 million building initial capacity of 1MW, with development due to commence early next year.

NEXTDC said this would ensure it continues to have available capacity in Perth.

P2’s planned total capacity is 20MW.

Another major player in the Perth market is private company Pier DC, which invested $20 million establishing its data centre in Canning Vale.