Another data centre for Sydney's tech belt

NextDC announces new build in Macquarie Park.

Data centre builder NextDC has completed a purchase of land in Macquarie Park, in Sydney's north, with a view to building a high-density data centre sized between 4000 and 6000 square metres.

Macquarie Park, wedged between North Ryde and Epping, has become a crucial hub in Sydney’s technology belt, which stretches from the CBD and North Sydney through to North Ryde, and arguably all the way to the Norwest Business Park in Bella Vista.

The selection of a site in the area pits NextDC against Sydney stalwart Macquarie Telecom, which announced in October 2011 that it would build a 20,000 square metre facility in neighbouring North Ryde.

It also sheds some light on a war of words between NextDC funder Bevan Slattery and Macquarie Telecom’s Aiden Tudehope at a recent industry conference.

Dimension Data also offers a Tier Two data centre in North Ryde, operating under the Netforce brand. IT services giants Fujitsu (North Ryde), HP and Unisys (Rhodes) also offer services from older facilities close by.

NextDC's Sydney data centre will be its third, with builds also under way in Brisbane and Melbourne.