Crypto Gold Coast: Hi-tech secure data server complex planned for site near the light rail

The Gold Coast will be rebranded as a “secure” location with facilities to rival Israel under a plan to broaden the city’s economy post-Covid.

THE Gold Coast will be rebranded as a one of the most secure tech sites on Earth under a plan which will go before council this year.

Mayor Tom Tate wants to build a “Fort Knox-style” data centre close to the light rail route in a bid to lure in tech giants with the promise of keeping their data secure.

The proposed centre would take the city back to its farming roots with a hi-tech twist, by being home to highly secure server farms.

A Fort Knox-style secure data centre could be built on the Gold Coast.

Cr Tate said he looked to Israel for inspiration for the idea, which he said would help the city’s economy recover from Covid.

“To recover properly we need to rebuild the economy across every sector and while the property industry hasn’t missed a beat, we need to bring back international education and build up IT and to do this we need to be secure like Israel,” he said.

“We need to build a data centre which is so solid that people will feel this is the safest place to keep their data.

“It will be a high-security, closed building, Fort Knox-style and the aim is to attract larger companies who are looking for offshore locations to keep their cloud data.

Mayor Tom Tate. Picture Glenn Hampson

Cr Tate is eyeing off locations along the light rail route for the prospective centre, which would be linked into the fibre-optic cable which runs under the tracks.

Council spent more than $3.6m in 2016 to lay its cable under the tram tracks in a bid to boost the city’s high-speed internet capabilities before the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Server farms have become increasingly in demand in recent years for usage by crypto currency dealers, with the non-physical currency requiring significant computing power.

The idea has gained the support of Gold Central Chamber of Commerce president Martin Hall.

“To do this we need to be secure like Israel” - Tom Tate

Mr Hall, who has frequently been at odds with the mayor over business matters, said he wanted to see the fibre optic cable get greater use and called for it to be extended to the city’s south.

“We are quite supportive of this as it would use an existing city asset which we have had for some time,” he said.

“It would be great to see the Gold Coast become the Australia equivalent of the Google headquarters.

“It would make sense to do this as we try to claw our way out of this Covid environment we are stuck in.”

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Originally published as Crypto Gold Coast: Hi-tech secure data server complex planned for site near the light rail