Customer demand as a result of increased data usage and arise in the number of companies transitioning to cloud has driven Equinix to open phase two of its Sydney SY3 International Business Exchange (IBX) data centre (SY3-II) six months ahead of schedule.
SY3-II is located south of Sydney and provides approximately 1,000 cabinets across 22,927 square feet. Once the third and final phase of SY3 is completed, the IBX will provide 72,850 square feet and capacity for 3,000 cabinets.
A recentForrester report states that 36% of Australian organizations are currently leveraging cloud-based services, an increase from 22% in 2010 and 14% in 2009.
"Australian companies increasingly need to consider and adopt cloud services in an effort to move at least part of their IT into a data centre," said minister for broadband, communications and the digital economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, who officially opened the facility with Equinix Australia's managing director, Tony Simonsen. "On an international scale, companies wanting to do business in Australia can experience latency issues so we are seeing many of those making the decision to deploy at onshore data centers in Australia."
NBN nudge
According toCiti Research, the National Broadband Network (NBN) in Australia is seen as a demand driver for cloud services within Australia and, by extension, for Australian data centers.
The rollout of the NBN will enable new ways of delivering essential business services, including smart infrastructure and high-tech services such as IPTV, and online gaming services.
Forrester's report, "Sizing the Cloud Markets in Asia Pacific" issued early 2012 states that Australia is the most mature cloud market in Asia Pacific; the public cloud market in Australia will grow from $732 million in 2011 to $3.2 billion in 2020; and that the virtual private cloud market will grow from $157 million in 2011 to $2.4 billion in 2020.