Equinix pumps US$97 million more into data centre infrastructure in Sydney

Equinix, the interconnection and data centre company, has announced plans to invest over US$97 million to build a large-scale data centre in Sydney, Australia. This new International Business Exchange (IBX) data centre, to be called SY4, will address the growing demand for premium data centre services in Australia. SY4 will be Equinix's fourth data centre in Sydney, and its fifth in Australia; taking the company's total investment in Australia close to US$360 million.

According to the Frost & Sullivan Australian Data Centre Services Market 2014 report¹, the Australian data centre services market is estimated to grow to A$1.7 billion by 2020. Australia's data centre services market recorded A$698 million in revenues for 2013 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.9% to 2020. Equinix is meeting demand for premium data centre services in Australia, with the recent opening of ME1 in Melbourne, and this new, additional investment in Sydney.

Located in Alexandria, just south of Sydney's CBD and in close proximity to the Equinix SY1/2 and 3 campus, SY4 will provide a total of 3,000 cabinets of capacity at full build, with the first phase of 1,500 cabinets scheduled for completion in Q2 2016. The 135,000ft² facility will help businesses safeguard mission-critical data with the highest levels of security and operational reliability. 

Demand for premium data centre services has been led by Australia's early adoption of the hybrid cloud model. In a recent survey, Dimensional Research found that 85% of Australian enterprises are planning to deploy to multiple clouds within the next 12 months, with 83% of enterprises indicating that direct connects to cloud providers are highly valued². The investment in SY4 is meeting this demand with the Equinix Cloud Exchange offering businesses secure, low-latency and high-performance direct connections with public and private cloud providers. 

The IBX data centres at the Equinix Sydney campus are home to an increasing number of large enterprises, as well as business ecosystems for cloud, mobility, content, and financial services. With Equinix's three Sydney data centres in close proximity, SY4 will be able to interconnect with the existing facilities via a dense dedicated fibre loop. This enables SY4 customers to leverage Equinix's Australian ecosystems and interconnect with 600+ existing Equinix customers, 250+ cloud providers and 130+ networks. 

The new SY4 phased build is one of many in Equinix's growing global platform – Platform Equinix – which consists of more than 100 data centres in 33 markets. Earlier this year Equinix announced that it is boosting interconnection capacity with five new data centres, in London, Melbourne, New York, Singapore and Toronto respectively.

The Hon. Stuart Ayres, MP, New South Wales (NSW) Minister for trade, tourism and major events said: "Sydney is Australia's leading business centre and capital of Australia's top state economy. It is the first choice for many local and international businesses wanting to grow in our dynamic state. 

"The NSW government has worked with Equinix to support the company's growth in Sydney and we welcome the company's latest investment which will help to ensure that NSW businesses have the opportunity to leverage world-class interconnection services. These services assist in unlocking new revenue opportunities and drive growth in our digital economy. Our information and communication technology and digital/creative strengths will be on show next month at CeBIT Australia 2015 in Sydney."

Jeremy Deutsch, MD, Equinix Australia, commented, "SY4 shows our ongoing commitment in the Sydney market and will enable our Australian customers to continue to take advantage of innovations including hybrid cloud architectures and the Equinix Cloud Exchange. The new facility will ensure that we continue to deliver on our promise to help businesses safeguard their mission-critical data, aid growth and rapid scalable deployment through our global footprint, and with the highest levels of security and operational reliability."

¹ Frost & Sullivan Australian Data Centre Services Market 2014 report
² Cloud Adoption Study: Australia