(Rendering of ME1 in Melbourne)
The data center market in Australia has rapidly established a well-earned reputation as a scene where appetite for data consumption and demand for globally competitive services are pitched high. These trends continue to boom, bringing with them hearty competition and revenue growth for services. Despite our diminutive population the surging quest for high-end ecosystem rich, outsourced data center facilities and services is in some ways more advanced than our international counterparts.
Since coming on board as the new managing director for Equinix Australia in May, we have been focused on the build and deployment of our first Melbourne data center, ME1. Australian network services provider, Vocus, is one of our anchor customers with more customer announcements on the horizon. The development of ME1 is progressing well and comes at a time when demand for new capacity is accelerating at a rapid pace.
The latest research from Frost & Sullivan reports that the data center services market recorded a 17.2% upward swing over the previous year.
To meet these vast growth demands, we have established our own strategy to ensure the Australian market is prepared for this rapid data growth. Our team and I have been on the ground with our customers helping to determine their growing and often unanticipated scope of data servicing needs.
What we’ve found is that customer requirements include a much wider scope than ever before. While international connectivity needs are still of importance, there’s also a rising need for commercial expansion into other global hubs. As Equinix is the enabler of business expansion, we are delighted to help our customers break into new markets and accelerate their plans for growth.
As an example, we have recently worked closely with OrionVM, a cloud services provider, to help the company expand into the US market. By deploying in our data centers in San Francisco, OrionVM now has global reach in North America.
Meanwhile in Sydney, we recently opened phase three of our third Sydney data center (SY3) and excitedly announced that it was selected by Hawaiki Cable as the site of the company’s landing station in Australia and prime interconnection point.
Hawaiki is building a 14,000-kilometer cable system which will provide trans-Pacific connectivity between Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands and the United States. It will also provide cross-connect opportunities for all Equinix customers collocated in its Sydney data centers, and will give Hawaiki direct access to over 4,500 potential customers.
The unique proposition that Equinix offers the Australian market is the ability to connect effectively with other providers in the ecosystem. The model supports healthy industry collaboration and as a by-product extends the reach and growth of our industry while also serving to accelerate pathways to international destinations. With Frost & Sullivan forecasting that Australia’s data centre services market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.9% from 2013 to 2020, this is central to Equinix’s expansive and collaborative Australian growth strategy and distinct position to take on new opportunities.
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