SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – 26 November 2024: NEXTDC (ASX: NXT), Australia’s leading digital infrastructure and data centre provider, announces its strategic role as a key critical infrastructure partner in the Australia Connect initiative which was launched today.
The initiative is a collaborative project with Google, NEXTDC, Sunshine Coast City Council and several partners including State Governments with the mission of furthering the reach, reliability and resilience of digital connectivity in Australia and the Indo-Pacific region via the delivery of new subsea cable systems.
Subsea cable systems directly connect Australia and the Asia Pacific region to the Internet across several continents, including the US and provide mission critical support in meeting Australia's demand for digital services driven by cloud and AI technologies.
The sophisticated subsea cable technology is deployed across 1000’s of km’s of the ocean floor and importantly, these cable networks are responsible for carrying most of the world's Internet traffic.
Once operational, the Australia Connect initiative will deliver new and diverse digital pathways to boost the reliability and resilience of the internet within Australia and throughout the Indo-Pacific region.
As a result, the initiative will expand and grow direct and secure internet connectivity to Perth, Melbourne, Darwin and Sunshine Coast with direct and secure access to the Asia Pacific region through connectivity with the Tabua and Honomoana Subsea Cable Systems.
Brian Quigley, VP, Global Network Infrastructure, Google Cloud stated:
“We’re excited to continue our close collaboration with NEXTDC in support of Australia Connect. This initiative will help deliver new digital pathways for Australia and throughout the Indo-Pacific region.”
NEXTDC Chief Executive Officer Craig Scroggie stated:
“We are longstanding collaborators of Google, having worked closely together on multiple cable landing facilities. The team are excited to extend our partnership to include the Australia Connect initiative which will deliver stronger, faster and more resilient internet for Australia and the region.”
“As a data centre provider with a network connecting coast to coast across mainland Australia, this ongoing commitment to invest in the nation’s mission critical infrastructure enables NEXTDC to provide industry-leading solutions to our customers as they navigate the transformative impacts of AI to accelerate their strategic advantage.”
Sunshine Coast Mayor Rosanna Natoli highlighted the initiative was an outstanding win for the region and the benefits extended far beyond just improved connectivity and network performance.
“We are excited to partner with NEXTDC and Google to help improve digital resilience across the country and the near Pacific. Australia’s entire digital landscape is now changing and the Sunshine Coast community will play a significant role in this outcome.” Mayor Natoli stated.
“This project builds on the significant progress being made to establish the region Maroochydore City Centre as one of Australia’s fastest growing innovation hubs, and an ideal investment destination for both international and Australian based businesses.”
Google’s submarine cable investment is noted in the research conducted by Analysys Mason (2022) to have significant economic benefit in Australia with over 64 billion U.S. dollars of GDP forecast to be generated by 2026. This research also asserts that this strategic investment in critical infrastructure will generate more than 68,000 additional jobs for Australia's digital economy.
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To learn more, visit www.nextdc.com
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About NEXTDC
NEXTDC is an ASX 100-listed technology company and Asia’s most innovative Data Centre-as-a-Service provider. We are building the infrastructure platform for the digital economy, delivering the critical power, security and connectivity for global cloud computing providers, enterprise and Government.
NEXTDC is recognised globally for the design, construction and operation of Australia’s only network of Uptime Institute certified Tier IV facilities, and one of only a few data centre operators in the Southern Hemisphere to achieve Tier IV Gold certification for Operational Sustainability. NEXTDC has a strong focus on sustainability and operational excellence through renewable energy sources and delivering world-class operational efficiency. Our data centres have been engineered to deliver exceptional levels of efficiency and the industry’s lowest Total Cost of Operation through NABERS 5-star energy efficiency.
NEXTDC’s corporate operations have been certified carbon neutral under the Australian Government’s Climate Active Carbon Neutral Standard.
Our Cloud Centre partner ecosystem is Australia’s most dynamic digital marketplace, comprising carriers, cloud providers and IT service providers, enabling local and international customers to source and connect with cloud platforms, service providers and vendors to build complex hybrid cloud networks and scale their critical IT infrastructure services.
NEXTDC is where the cloud lives®.
To learn more, visit www.nextdc.com
