NextDC launches brand new Darwin data centre

Data centres are crucial for the Territory’s digital connectivity and economic development, with a new $80m Darwin development marking the launch of a new industry in the NT.

The first of several new data centres planned for Darwin officially opened for business on Wednesday, just eight months after work began on the Harvey Street building.

Digital company NextDC’s D1 Darwin data centre will house about 1000 racks and support up to 7MW of IT load.

A Territory workforce of up to 200 people supported builder Kapitol Group constructing the $80m centre.

D1 Darwin will use domestic and sub-sea cables into Darwin to securely connect and support data storage for customers in Australia and overseas.

National and international connectivity will be provided via Vocus’ Darwin-Jakarta-Singapore sub-sea cable project which was launched earlier this year.

NextDC’s D1 Darwin opening on Wednesday.

Data centres are crucial for the Territory’s digital connectivity and economic development,

serving as the backbone and vital infrastructure for critical data storage, processing and

distribution.

NextDC said data centres are “pivotal” to supporting cloud computing, data analytics and other digital services necessary for businesses across sectors such as agriculture, education, mining, tourism, health care and retail services.

NextDC chief customer and commercial officer David Dzienciol said the centre was a “market leading product” he believed would “change the landscape here for the future”.

“D1 will offer the same level of zero downtime resilience as our entire fleet of data centres, which achievve 100 per cent uptime guarantee.

A drone shot of NextDC’s D1 Darwin centre.

“It is a foundation to help us grow into the future and the facility also features the capability to support the emergent needs of so many new technologies and bring new levels of sustainability performance to mission critical infrastructure and provide both national and international access to enable the growth for every organisation across Australia’s Northern Territory and broader even across the Asia-Pacific region.”

Cutting the ribbon to open the new facility, chief minister Eva Lawler said the centre would “significantly boost” the NT’s digital profile.

“NextDC’s D1 marks an exciting milestone for the Territory’s accelerating digital economy, providing numerous local and global organisations with mission critical infrastructure combined with access to global cloud platforms to drive and implement their digital growth strategies,” Ms Lawler said.

“Northern Territory business and government will be able to significantly boost the capability of their current digital footprint, actively supporting our digital territory action plan to enable all Territorians to reach their potential and thrive in a digital economy.”

Other data centres planned for the NT include DCI’s $80m DRW01 Wishart project, Hawaiki Nui’s planned Pacific cable, HyperOne’s $1.5bn digital rollout, and Inglio’s $700m sub-sea cable.