What’s NEXT for South Australia

A1 Adelaide is set to solve data centre migration challenges for South Australia enterprise and government  

By David Dietrich, Territory Manager, South Australia

Having spent my entire ICT career in Adelaide, I may sound slightly biased when I say it’s a state that’s ripe with high-tech opportunity. However, the facts also back me up on this – especially when you consider that preparations are already underway to build some of the most complex machines on earth right here in Osborne, as part of the $368B, multi-decade AUKUS deal. 

But high-tech nuclear submarines represent just one page of South Australia’s smart economy story – albeit an important one that will facilitate unprecedented jobs and economic growth. South Australia already has well-established skills and expertise across multiple key data intensive industry verticals – including mining and resources, defence, space, health and manufacturing, to name just a few.  

Data-driven digital technologies such as cloud computing and automation have reached critical mass and there are exciting new horizons such as AI – and particularly Generative AI – that are redefining future opportunities for high value jobs and investment in this state. Effective utilisation of these technologies is prefaced on having the right digital infrastructure to enable them. 

Data centres – a new type of critical infrastructure 

When you hear the term ‘critical infrastructure’, you tend to think of utilities, roads, ports, bridges and railways – those facilities and systems that underpin our nation’s vital commercial and community interests. Today, it is the digital economy that is exponentially representing the new ‘infrastructure’ engine for productivity and growth. It is increasingly clear, everything going forward will be dependent on the capture, management and utilisation of data.  

As digital transformation continues to accelerate, premium quality data centres – built for resilience, security, interconnection and sustainability – are just as important to economic health as any other form of infrastructure. Put simply, you can’t attract capital investment and create jobs without them. 

How are we doing? 

And here lies the core challenge facing Adelaide: a lack of premium data centres. If you know only one thing about data centres, it should be that they are measured by independent ratings based on performance and uptime capability, ranging from Tier I (basic capacity) to Tier IV (completely fault tolerant).  

While Adelaide has data centres, it currently tops out at Tier III (concurrently maintainable). And when you’re talking about a future that is a seamless blend of AI, cloud technologies, IoT (and whatever else is headed our way), that’s simply not going to be good enough. The future needs 100% uptime. 

That’s why NEXTDC is building A1 Adelaide, South Australia its first Tier IV data centre, as certified by Uptime Institute, the globally acknowledged leader in independent verification of data centre quality.  Opening to customers in the second half of 2024, there’s nothing like A1 elsewhere in the state, and it’s going to transform Adelaide’s technology infrastructure thereby removing one of the barriers obstructing accelerated digital transformation.  

Adelaide data centres: What to look for 

If you're looking for a digital infrastructure services partner in South Australia that will help prepare you for whatever comes next, we recommend discussing the following:  

• Is the infrastructure scalable and future ready? This means it can support both your immediate as well as long-term needs (including AI), whatever the future looks like. 
• What is the level of resilience of the data centre? As discussed above, the 100% uptime advantage between Tier IV and Tier III infrastructure will make all the difference in mission critical operations, where no outages can be tolerated. 
• What is your approach to security? With data being the most valuable commodity in the world, your data centre provider should embrace a holistic approach to security risk management including comprehensive compliance to global and industry standards, without compromising performance and customer experience.  
• What about interconnectivity? The right partner should act as a gateway to the world’s leading clouds, carriers and digital services, as well as seamlessly scalable connections East and West to a national footprint of data centres. Plus, access to Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) capability for self-provisioned virtual connectivity billed under a utility model where you only pay for what you use. 
• What is your approach to sustainability? As power requirements of today’s and tomorrow’s digital infrastructure continue to spiral upwards, so do the carbon footprints it leaves. Data centres must be designed from scratch and operated to be energy efficient in support of Net Zero targets. This includes not only power usage, but also waste, water and more. Ask about net neutral data centre services. 

Find out what’s NEXT for digital infrastructure in Adelaide 

NEXTDC is where the cloud lives^TM and where AI thrives^TM – and we’re coming to Adelaide.  

With its strategic CBD location, A1 Adelaide will introduce high-density and diverse connectivity to the South Australian digital economy with ultra-low latency cloud access helping to support civic objectives to become an innovation hub. A1 Adelaide will also offer custom-designed, mission-critical workspaces which can support mission critical teams and processes with DC-grade resilience, security and connectivity. 

A1 is poised to help South Australian organisations become truly future ready, and enable them to embrace necessary agility, flexibility and scalability in their tech strategies. It will join NEXTDC’s network of 15 premium data centres across Australia, including remote edge facilities to support the mining and resources sector. It’s Australia’s only national fleet of interconnected AI ready, future-facing, Tier IV data centres. 

Contact us to find out more about our Adelaide Data Centre (A1) and to discover “What’s NEXT” for South Australian digital infrastructure.