ActewAGL investigates next generation data centre development

ActewAGL has announced that it has formed a consortium to propose a next generation data centre campus in Canberra.

The Canberra Technology City (CTC) development would revolutionise the way that computer systems and data is secured and supported and provide a comprehensive long-term solution for Australian and international organisations.

A consortium, including ActewAGL, Technical Real Estate (developer and owner of the data centres), Galileo Connect a UK-based world leader in engineering and designer of future proofed data centres and CB Richard Ellis (global advisory property services), has combined their capabilities to present CTC.

ActewAGL Chief Executive Officer John Mackay said, “The proposal for a data centre campus in the ACT has been driven by a sudden and dramatic shift in demand in the last two years.

"This demand is driven by computer hardware power requirements rapidly exceeding the limits of old data centres and data centre tenants demanding secure facilities that are designed and engineered to be upgraded and expanded while they remain in full production.”

The CTC proposal would have many benefits for the ACT, including strengthening the position of the ACT as a leader in data centre infrastructure, facilities and services, as well as the potential to attract high value data centre tenants, such as global financial institutions.

The CTC project would provide for data centres over two separate sites in the ACT. The first site at Hume is intended to service primary production demand suitable as a regional data centre ‘hub’ for large global companies operating within the Asia-Pacific region. The second site at Belconnen is intended to service secondary production demands, as well as to provide backup and recovery and business continuity for the primary site tenants.

The CTC development would be an environmentally friendly data centre campus with onsite power generation. In recognition of C02 emissions and global warming the CTC data centres will lead the industry in reducing the carbon footprint of such facilities.

Invitations to CTC briefings have been distributed to 300 companies across Australia and internationally. The Canberra briefing will be held on 15 October 2007.