NextDC preps site for WA data centre

NextDC is gearing up to begin building its fifth Australian data centre, a 9600 square metre facility in Malaga, Western Australia dubbed “P1,” which will come online in the fourth quarter of 2013.

A Western Australian construction company has been engaged to construct the facility, which will provide 3000 square metres of technical space and 6 megawatts of IT load.

This will make it one of the highest-density data centres in Australia and will enable modern enterprises to support their increasing virtualisation and cloud-based operations into the future, NextDC CEO Craig Scroggie said in a statement to the ASX.

P1’s design incorporates energy saving technology such as solar and tri-generation plants, and direct free air cooling, which makes use of cooler night and winter air temperatures.

It is expected to be one of the more efficient data centres in the market with a targeted power usage effectiveness (PUE) of 1.3 or less. A PUE ratio is calculated by dividing the amount of power entering a data centre by the power used to run the facility’s IT infrastructure.

The company claimed this was more efficient than many sites operating across the country.

The facility will also have 2000 square metres of office space that will be made available to customers as part of their business continuity plans.

NextDC is undergoing a rapid expansion plan. In late August, the company opened a Canberra data centre to target potential Federal government agencies. It also opened similar facilities in Melbourne and Sydney in October 2011.

Shares of NextDC were trading at $2 this morning.

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