Macquarie Telecom earmarks AU$78m to build ‘largest ever’ data centre in Sydney | ZDNet

Macquarie Telecom has announced it is building what it is calling its “largest ever” data centre to be based in the company’s existing Macquarie Park data centre campus in Sydney.

According to Macquarie Telecom, it will invest an initial AU$78 million to build the core and shell of the new 32-megawatt Intellicentre 3 (IC3) Super West facility.

The facility will be based in the Sydney North Zone at the company’s existing Macquarie Park Data Centre Campus and help bring the company’s total IT load at the campus to 50 megawatts. It will also be designed to connect with the IC3 East facility.

The new facility will also be home to a new Sovereign Cyber Security Centre of Excellence, which according to the company, will be responsible for monitoring and managing cybersecurity events around the clock. An initial 31 cyber specialists are expected to run and operate the centre by 2024.

“This global scale data centre will be one of the most certified facilities in the region,” Macquarie Data Centres group executive David Hirst said, pointing out IC3 Super West will be designed to adhere to a range of standards including ISO 27001, PCI DSS 3.2, ISO 45001, and ISO 14001.

“Data is growing exponentially, and we have demonstrated time and time again our ability to deliver infrastructure to meet that growth. Our data centres are sovereign, secure and certified to manage Australia’s most important data and drive the digital economy,” Hirst added.

Subject to being granted permission by the board in early 2022, construction of phase 1 of IC3 Super West is expected to be completed by the second half of calendar year 2023.

Plans for the IC3 Super West facility follows Macquarie completing the build of its IC5 Bunker facility in Canberra, and Phase 1 of the IC3 East at its Macquarie Park Data Centre Campus.

In June, Macquarie Telecom’s Canberra Campus was one of three providers certified by the Australian government to store sensitive data locally.

The Digital Transformation Agency said the campus was certified against the requirements defined in the Hosting Certification Framework, which it has administered since March 2019.

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