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Global Switch's $300m datacentre gets tick

Datacentre provider Global Switch has been given the green light to construct a new, eco-friendly datacentre facility in Sydney, close to its existing facility in Ultimo
Written by Luke Hopewell, Contributor

Datacentre provider Global Switch has been given the green light to construct a new, eco-friendly datacentre facility in Sydney, close to its existing facility in Ultimo.

Datacentre storage

Global Switch is set to construct a new green datacentre facility in Sydney worth $300 million (Credit: Luke Hopewell/ZDNet Australia)

Code-named "Sydney 2", the new facility will house 365,000 square feet of new space and will take 18 months to complete. Construction is expected to commence on the green facility in the second quarter of 2011.

Sydney 2 will harvest rainwater for cooling purposes and will also recycle water on-site, leading to a potential saving of up to 220,000 megalitres of water per year. The facility will draw power from an on-site array which, according to Global Switch's executive chairman John Corcoran, will make Sydney 2 three to four times more efficient than a datacentre drawing power directly from the grid.

"As part of our commitment to energy efficiency and reducing our carbon emissions, Sydney 2 will be one of the most environmentally efficient datacentres to be built," he said.

Sydney 2 is the latest of eight datacentres owned and operated by Global Switch around the world, and is set to create 400 jobs during the construction phase and will give way to 50 permanent positions.

New South Wales Premier, Kristina Keneally said today that the new project is set to encourage more investment in IT in the state and will reinforce Sydney's position as a "global financial and IT hub."

The new datacentre deal comes off the back of a big year for Global Switch, including a 10-year lease with the Department of Defence and a hardware and software hosting deal with the National Broadband Network Company (NBN Co) inked last month.

Global Switch's existing Sydney facility is 450,000 square feet in size and is recognised as the largest facility of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, housing equipment for all kinds of IT applications, including Steam Engine's high-powered computing gear.

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