Construction commences on regional data centres

Construction of the Leading Edge Data Centre (LEDC) facilities in Tamworth and Coffs Harbour has begun — boosting jobs, creating much-needed network infrastructure and strengthening the digital economy of each city. The company’s first data centre facility in Newcastle is nearly complete, with doors scheduled to open 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 and the planned acceleration of this rollout aims to dramatically increase on that number.

Chris Thorpe, CEO of LEDC, said the groundbreaking milestones are another step closer to delivering on the business purpose of bridging the digital divide of regional Australia.

“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.

“It’s more important than ever before for our metropolitan and regional communities to be digitally connected with equivalent capabilities,” he said.

The world-class facilities will be built and deployed in collaboration with local and national technology partners including Schneider Electric. They have been designed for lower-cost and faster deployment than a standard data centre, with each facility being built and deployed within six months.

Schneider Electric Vice President Joe Craparotta said the company is delighted to support this project, which aligns with Schneider’s business strategy of accelerating the country’s overall digital transformation and regional Australia in particular.

“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 onsite at each location, therefore bringing much-needed economic activity to NSW and the regions,” said Craparotta.

LEDC’s rollout is rapidly expanding across multiple NSW locations over the next 12 months. Development approvals 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.