Five firms named for Government data centre panel

The Federal Government has named five data centre operators in three states and territories to a whole-of-government panel designed to avoid $1 billion in future costs.

Special minister of state Gary Gray said today that Canberra Data Centre, TransACT, iSeek (Brisbane), Global Switch (Sydney) and Datacom (Sydney) would make up the panel.

All were in line for multi-million dollar outsourcing deals as the Government attempted to consolidate most federal agencies into larger, more modern third party data centre facilities for the next 15 years.

The panel would be in place for five years.

Agencies that entered agreements with any panellist for data centre space would do so on a 10-year lease, with the option to extend for a further five years.

Gray said a "small number" of additional data centre operators could still be added to the panel in the near future, including those with facilities still under construction.

He said the panel formation was a major milestone in the implementation of the Australian Government's Data Centre Strategy 2010 – 2025.

Agencies were expected to engage panellists when their existing leases expired or they changed current IT outsourcing arrangements, requiring new or different data centre space.

"The next important step in this process will be the establishment of a panel of providers of migration services," Gray said.

"Agencies will be able to select providers from this panel to assist them to move from existing data centres to new data centres. This panel will be ready shortly."

The Government's data centre strategy beyond the panel arrangement was unclear.

Late last year, it announced a "feasibility study" to examine the construction its own data centre as a long-term alternative to leasing space from the private sector.