Datacentre builds to follow NBN sites: IBM

David Yip, leader of IBM's Site and Facility Services arm, has predicted that first and second release sites for the National Broadband Network (NBN) could become new points of presence for datacentre vendors.

In an interview with ZDNet Australia, Yip said that as more and more datacentres roll out around the country next year, some vendors will become early adopters of the nation's new, high-speed broadband network. According to Yip, many vendors will roll out datacentre facilities within first and second release sites or close to fibre points of interconnect (PoI).

"You will start to see a lot more of the next generation [points of presence]," Yip said.

"You will see companies leverage [new infrastructure in first and second release sites] and companies will build in or near interconnect points," he added.

The National Broadband Network Company (NBN Co) announced the first five mainland release sites in March, and heralded 20 second release sites in July.

This week also saw NBN Co release its 160-page business case, which revealed the network would have 120 PoIs, as opposed to the 14 originally proposed.

Yip also said that 2011 would see datacentre construction become more expensive as the ICT skills shortage took hold.

"The skills involved in datacentres are actually quite rare and there's a shortage of skilled people. That won't go away next year, in fact it might even get worse. The cost of datacentres won't come down, in fact it may even cost more [to deploy a datacentre]," he said.