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NextDC finalises Sydney datacentre site

Fledgling national datacentre operator NextDC said late last week that it was in the final stages of talks to acquire land for a new datacentre site in Sydney's north, as it continues its plans to roll out datacentre facilities around the nation.
Written by Renai LeMay, Contributor

Fledgling national datacentre operator NextDC said late last week that it was in the final stages of talks to acquire land for a new datacentre site in Sydney's north, as it continues its plans to roll out datacentre facilities around the nation.

NextDC entrance

(Credit: NextDC)

The company, founded last year by Pipe Networks veteran Bevan Slattery and led by a slew of experienced local technology executives, said that it had entered into a non-binding heads of agreement to acquire the new site, which it described only as being in "northern Sydney". A formal contract is expected this week, with the acquisition to be completed by the end of April.

"The board can confirm that the site is ideally situated adjacent to major infrastructure in a precinct which is recognised as one of Australia's major technology hubs," the company said, although it wouldn't say exactly where the centre will be located.

Northern Sydney hosts a major technology hub in North Ryde. The suburb houses major technology companies such as Optus, CSC and Microsoft.

The NextDC site is expected to provide between 3000 to 5000 square metres of datacentre space and to go live in the third quarter of the 2012 calendar year.

Slattery said the company had investigated a series of options in Sydney. "After a comprehensive evaluation of alternatives in Sydney, we are very pleased to have found this highly strategic location for our future Sydney datacentre," he said. "We are now working closely with the vendors, expert consultants and urban utilities to complete due diligence requirements as efficiently and effectively as possible."

This morning, NextDC also released an extensive document updating investors about its plans to become "the most recognised, connected and trusted datacentre brand" in Australia and New Zealand.

In the document, the company noted the appointment of Telstra and Fujitsu veteran Ted Pretty as its executive deputy chairman, the execution of a deal with Harbour MSP and the fact that the company has a current qualified sales pipeline already showing "over 20 opportunities" for deals.

The company currently has the equivalent of 12 full-time staff, divided up evenly between sales, technical and administration. Four more are to commence within the next four weeks.

It is also currently constructing datacentres in a number of other cities, with its first facility in Brisbane slated to go live by 31 May this year, and another datacentre in Melbourne to be ready by November. The company sees the Perth, Canberra and Auckland markets as growth opportunities.

It has produced the following video walkthroughs of its Melbourne and Brisbane datacentres, which consist of artist impressions.

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