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NextDC inks million dollar Australian Electoral Commission contract

Brisbane-based datacentre-as-a-service company, NextDC, has signed a AU$1.4 million deal with the Australian Electoral Commission.
Written by Asha Barbaschow, Contributor

Australian-listed NextDC has been contracted by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) to provide datacentre services and accommodation for AU$1.4 million.

The five-year deal sees the AEC relocate critical IT infrastructure from its existing Department of Human Services managed datacentre into NextDC's C1 datacentre in Canberra.

"We are very pleased to be supporting the AEC's critical public services and central role in maintaining the integrity and membership of Australia's electoral roll," NextDC CEO Craig Scroggie said.

"The assurance given by NextDC's unparalleled security standards, operational excellence, and the resiliency of our datacentre's power and cooling services was a key factor in NextDC's successful bid."

Currently, NextDC is a supplier to the Australian Government Datacentre Facilities Supplies Panel, an initiative run by the Australian Government Department of Finance.

Canberra Data Centres, Australian Data Centres, and Datapod also form part of the panel.

"As the Commonwealth moves to realise the significant opportunities for technology to improve the administration of polling, NextDC are delighted our C1 infrastructure will be a key enabler of this transformation," Scroggie said of the AEC deal.

In July last year, Scroggie said Australia Post was already utilising the company's M1 datacentre in Melbourne as part of its 'Building Future Ready IT' project, and the C1 Canberra datacentre -- to be utilised by the AEC -- was built to the specifications required by the government for the Australian Taxation Office.

"These facilities have all been recognised by the Commonwealth as having the efficiency and scalability needed to power their shift to cloud-based operations. I am especially pleased that an Australian company, boasting Australian innovation will be a lead partner in this," he said at the time.

Last month, NextDC also entered into a six-year contract with the Australian Government for the provision of datacentre services, in an undisclosed deal valued at approximately AU$35 million.

Earlier this year, NextDC sealed a deal with Microsoft Azure to offer direct cloud connectivity to its cloud platform via ExpressRoute, and also signed a collocation agreement with American telco CenturyLink to expand its datacentre footprint to Australia.

For the financial year ending June 2015, NextDC reported AU$60.9 million in revenue, up 85 percent year-on-year, and EBITDA of AU$8 million, a rise of AU$24.1 million on FY14. At the same time, statutory net loss after tax was AU$10.3 million, up from FY14 net loss after tax of AU$22.9 million.

At the time, NextDC attributed its rise in revenue to its strong performing datacentre services, which alone saw revenue of AU$ 58.7, up 93 percent from the same time last year.

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