Bringing operational certainty and future readiness to an interconnected Northern Territory: NEXTDC supporting customer growth and innovation from Darwin

By Claire Sangster, Head of Regional Sales @ NEXTDC

The Northern Territory is on an exciting growth trajectory to achieve a $40 billion economy by 2030, with investment in world-class infrastructure identified as a key component of the Investment Territory transformation agenda. NEXTDC is proud to be part of this journey, as we welcome customers into our latest premium data centre – Darwin Data Centre (D1).

Now open, D1 Darwin represents a major step forward for digital infrastructure in the Northern Territory. Combined with the region’s abundance of natural resources, a highly skilled workforce and a range of other development initiatives, D1 is set to help reinforce Darwin’s emerging status as a highly strategic location and attractive destination for local and international investors alike.

The reason for this is simple – as the tech landscape becomes ever more complex, premium digital infrastructure is the key to getting businesses future-ready for technology innovation and growth opportunities presented by generative AI, automation and robotics; as well as unlocking seamless access to the cloud platforms that ensure agility, security, and scalability in an increasingly digital world.

Let’s find out why.

Critical location, critical connectivity

Darwin is strategically positioned within a 50-millisecond reach of over 500 million people, offering a secure and stable environment for businesses to establish, expand or move their operations to serve the local, Australian and Indo-Pacific markets.

It’s a critical location with a critical enabler: international connectivity, delivered by high-speed networks, and supported by new subsea cables to key locations in Asia and the US. To make the most of this opportunity, it’s essential that the digital infrastructure is truly world-class, meeting international standards of operational certainty.

What sets a leading digital infrastructure provider apart is their unwavering ability to provide ‘always-on’ operational certainty, a track record of anticipating and adapting to change, and their readiness to scale efficiently as customer demands grow and requirements change.

That’s where we come in and create strategic advantage for our customers. Via our award-winning AXON virtual connectivity platform, you’ll have direct access to multiple facilities and digital services in all major markets and key regional locations. We’ll support you as you build redundancy and disaster recovery solutions that ensure critical systems, applications, teams and processes are always on.

Become part of something bigger

Meanwhile, interconnectedness is paramount in the digital economy for achieving optimal performance, security and flexibility. To fully experience the benefits of a world-class data centre, virtual connections are non-negotiable when it comes to uniting organisations’ networks, people, data and cloud providers.

D1 tenants will experience these benefits from day one. They’ll join NEXTDC’s rich, interconnected ecosystem of more than 750 of the country’s leading networks and ICT service providers – not to mention Vocus and their Terrabit Territory fibre investment.

Supporting local business and employment is a key part of Investment Territory, so we’re proud to be welcoming some of the Territory’s leading service providers and carriers to the NEXTDC ecosystem.

We’re also creating an innovation hub for the local IT community – bringing together the best of the Territory’s tech innovation and talent.

Thinking sustainably

Last but by no means least, let’s talk about sustainability. The Northern Territory Government has an outstanding commitment to driving a growth agenda that delivers both economic and sustainable outcomes - and so do we.

There are some ambitious targets in place for Territorians, including a Net Zero goal for 2050 and a target of 50% renewable energy by 2030. Net zero is top of mind for us, too; having been certified carbon neutral in our administrative operations since 2018 thanks to initiatives such as our ongoing partnership with Qantas Future Planet.

We can also help you meet your own net zero goals with NEXTneutral – you can offset the carbon footprint of your digital infrastructure hosted in our facilities

We’re proud of our market-leading record in energy efficiency initiatives, which means a lower carbon footprint and lower power costs for digital acceleration. We’re currently exploring an array of opportunities to secure power from sustainable generation to fuel our data centre operations, including alternative fuels for our backup generators.

Building world-class digital infrastructure in the heart of Darwin

In an AI-driven future, the need for power, security and interconnection are more complex and essential than ever. That’s why we’re working tirelessly to provide that safe pair of hands organisations are looking for to operationalise AI investments.

In partnership with Vocus and the Northern Territory Government, we are committed to driving the economic development – investment and jobs – for foundation and future industries to leverage next generation technology innovation in the region.

D1 is NEXTDC’s flagship data centre in Australia’s North. It’s the first of its kind in Darwin to provide a 100% uptime plus fast, secure and flexible access to major cloud platforms – all bolstered by direct access to national and international major terrestrial and submarine cable infrastructure.

D1 will join NEXTDC’s established network of premium data centres across Australia, including remote edge facilities to support the mining and resources sector. Data sovereignty is assured via Australia’s only national fleet of interconnected AI ready, future-facing, Tier IV data centres.

NEXTDC is where the cloud lives^TM  and where AI thrives^TM

Contact us to find out more about our Darwin Data Centre (D1) and to discover “What’s NEXT” for Darwin’s digital infrastructure.