Construction of the Leading Edge Data Centre facilities in Tamworth and Coffs Harbour began this week, creating much-needed network infrastructure and strengthening the digital economy of each city. Construction for their first data centre facility in Newcastle is nearly complete, with doors opening in early 2021.
The data centres will be part of a highly connected network across Regional NSW, providing better connectivity options and new opportunities for local business growth. The project has already created 195 new jobs in NSW so far. The plan is to accelerate this rollout which will dramatically increase the number of jobs created.
CEO of Leading Edge Data Centres Chris Thorpe, said the ground breaking milestones are another step closer to delivering on their business purpose of bridging the digital divide of regional Australia.
“Tamworth groundbreaking”
“This is another step forward to providing more choice for local businesses and consumers when it comes to high-speed internet and direct cloud connectivity. Tamworth and Coffs Harbour will now be able to offer a much-improved experience similar to a metropolitan city,” Mr. Thorpe said. “It’s more important than ever before for our metropolitan and regional communities to be digitally connected with equivalent capabilities.”
The world class facilities will be built and deployed in collaboration with local, national and market-leading technology partners like Schneider Electric. The facilities have been designed for lower cost and faster deployment than a standard data centre, and each facility can be built and deployed within 6 months.
Schneider Electric Vice President Joe Craparotta said Schneider is delighted to support this project which is aligned with its business strategy of accelerating the digital transformation of Australia, in particular in regional Australia.
“Combining the vision of Leading Edge Data Centres with our market leading Prefabricated Data Centre Infrastructure is a proud moment for us. The data centres will be prefabricated in Heatherbrae, NSW and commissioned on site at each location, therefore bringing much needed economic activity to NSW and the regions,” said Craparotta.
Leading Edge Data Centres rollout is rapidly expanding across multiple NSW locations over the next 12 months. Development Approvals (DA) are underway for Albury, Coffs Harbour and Bathurst Councils to commence their regional data centre builds.
Planning is also well advanced on the expansion of the Edge data centre network into regional locations in Victoria and Queensland.
