Construction starts on NEXTDC data centre in Darwin, propels NT digital economy
Construction has commenced on a new data centre in the Northern Territory, called D1 Darwin, an $80m critical infrastructure project that will house about 1,500 racks and support up to 8MW IT load.
The construction of this new NEXTDC data centre is being managed by Kapitol Group NT and will create and support up to 200 jobs.
NEXTDC is Australia’s only provider of integrated edge data centre and remote operations solutions.
The new centre is within walking distance from the new Charles Darwin University CBD campus and will offer critical digital infrastructure to support all levels of business and government.
It will also house an innovation centre providing collaborative spaces to enable Territory technology innovators, start-ups and growth companies.
Northern Territory Chief Minister Natasha Fyles says the NT Government is focused on delivering and finding quality project, with long term positive outcomes.
“Darwin is located within 50 milliseconds to more than 500m people and offers a secure and stable location for digital, data, technology and telecommunication companies to start-up, relocate or expand their operations to service the local, Australian and Indo Pacific markets,” she said.
“This $80m investment, will help diversify and strengthen the Territory economy.
“Supporting over 200 jobs during construction and 20 jobs when operational, this data centre will spur the growth of tech businesses and many government agencies here in the Territory and create digital careers for locals.”
NEXTDC chief executive Craig Scroggie says the data centre will be a first-of-its-kind for Darwin.
“[It will enable] the Northern Territory economy with world class digital infrastructure, combined with secure, low-latency access to global cloud platforms to fully maximise the benefits of technology innovation such as Gen A.I, automation and robotics,” he said.
“As our flagship data centre in NT, D1 Darwin forms part of NEXTDC’s strategy to leverage the next frontier of Edge computing and for the region, it is a big step towards national digital equity.
“Its proximity to Darwin’s CBD and direct access to the major submarine cable infrastructure, means legacy industries such as mining and resources alongside the emerging defence sector can have real-time responsiveness to operational and mission-critical needs, fully capturing the value of emerging technologies.”
D1 Darwin will utilise domestic and subsea cables into Darwin to securely connect and support data storage for Australian and overseas customers – and will offer national and international connectivity through the VOCUS’ Darwin-Jakarta-Singapore sub-sea cable project which was lit earlier this year.
There is already significant customer interest in D1 Darwin, with the facility supporting strong growth for the digital economy in the region.
It is anticipated the first stage of D1 Darwin will be operational in mid-2024.
The addition of new sub-sea and terrestrial cables into Darwin is expected over the next few years which will support the future expansion as NEXTDC progress the remaining planned stages of this critical infrastructure facility.
