The funds will help with future growth capital expenditure for its regional data centre network
Australia-founded Leading Edge Data Centre marked its launch onto the market, by securing a AUD$20 million facility from investment firm, Washington H Soul Pattison. The funds will help with future growth capital expenditure for its regional data centre network.
Leading Edge’s national roll-out will see about 20 world-class tier three data centres built across Australia, providing “faster internet speeds” and “direct cloud connectivity” for regional areas.
This will help enable everything from faster content streaming, remote work and education, to telehealth and AgTech.
Leading Edge DC expects its first sites in Newcastle and Tamworth (NSW) to be ready towards the end of the year, said Chris Thorpe, CEO at Leading Edge DC.
“The structure of the Internet and enterprise computing resources is changing,” he said. “We’re ready to help enterprises attain a new level of network connectivity density and deliver seamless digital experiences to their customers – no matter where they are located.”
Thorpe said prior to Covid-19, Australia had started to see a decentralisation of IT and greater focus on taking compute power to where the user resides. However, investment in content delivery networks suited for streaming and gaming platforms centred in and around capital cities.
“The demand to deliver seamless digital experiences, driven by real-time data requirements and the growth of streaming competitors, placed strain on these traditional models,” he said.
“Edge data centres enable faster compute by locally hosting the applications; whether for content hosting and distribution, IoT data processing, digital mapping, AgTech, autonomous machinery, telehealth, or telecommunications.”
This, among others also helps take the load out of the existing backhaul networks, said Thorpe.
“They also provide the ability to reduce network latency for internet intensive activities like remote working, teleconferencing and home education – practices which have been rapidly accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic.”
The data centre is prefabricated and built locally offsite, in Newcastle NSW with footprints that scale in 30 or 75 rack configurations.”
Leading Edge DC’s roll-out will start with 75-Rack Edge Hubs across NSW, with Newcastle and Tamworth sites expected to be ready towards the end of the year; with Albury, Wagga Wagga, Parkes, Dubbo, and Coffs Harbour to go live by May 2021.
“The strategic real estate acquisition is well underway in parallel across NSW and other states to deliver a connected national DC platform,” he said.
Leading Edge DC was also awarded investment as part of SparkLabs Cultiv8 2020 accelerator group – an Asia Pacific acceleration program based out of regional NSW.
Tags: AgTechDatadata centreLeading Edge Data Centretelehealth
