​NextDC secures site for new AU$85m Melbourne datacentre

NextDC has announced Tullamarine as the location for its AU$85 million Melbourne 2 (M2) datacentre, after the Australian-listed company executed a contract to acquire the space near one of Australia's busiest airports.

NextDC said the AU$85 million investment includes the land, base building, and associated infrastructure to support the facility's initial 2 megawatts (MW) of IT load, with the company expecting this to scale up to a target capacity of 25MW at full fit-out.

"With Australian businesses currently focused on growth and innovation through the application of the latest technologies, M2 will deliver significant new capacity for organisations to access world-class colocation facilities and the benefits of cloud computing," Craig Scroggie, NextDC CEO, said.

"This investment into Victoria's growing IT industry and Australia's wider business economy reflects the ongoing customer demand we're experiencing for NextDC's premium datacentre services."

Yesterday, the company unveiled Queensland's Fortitude Valley as the location for its AU$75 million Brisbane 2 (B2) datacentre.

Initially, B2 will support 1.5MW, with its total capacity to reach 6MW.

NextDC set out to raise AU$120 million in November last year to fund the construction of both B2 and M2.

"Both B1 and M1 have proven to be highly successful facilities for the company in a relatively short period of time," Scroggie said at the time.

"We are confident that the ongoing demand in these geographies, together with our return expectations, warrants this next phase of investment in markets we know well."

NextDC's first Brisbane datacentre, B1, is nearing full capacity, with Melbourne's M1 sitting at 77 percent utilisation, based on contracts known as of the end of October 2015.

The company had said previously that both M2 and B2 were to be up and running by the end of 2016; however, as with M2, B2 is scheduled for completion late 2017.