NAB grabs Melbourne data centre

NAB has taken a long-term lease on a 5,000 square metre data centre building in Melbourne as part of its continuing IT transformation.

The bank signed the lease with data centre builder Digital Realty Trust within the last six weeks. Financial details were not disclosed.

A spokesman for the data centre operator declined to comment, citing commercial sensitivity.

An NAB spokeswoman confirmed only that the "deal had been struck" and declined to make further comments.

Digital Realty is believed to have won the lease in a tender process that kicked off between six and 12 months ago. It has been planning to build two buildings at its Melbourne site, located in an industrial park approximately 19km west of the central business district.

NAB has taken the first of the two buildings, meaning the data floors will be somewhat less than 5,000 square metres in total (as that sum includes plant and other equipment).

The bank will move in once the building is completed - estimated to be in early 2013.

The lease appeared to validate Digital Realty's strategy in Australia to speculatively build out capacity. The company is also building data centres in Western Sydney.

NAB is three years into its NextGen transformation program, intended to replace its core banking systems and retire more than 100 legacy applications by 2014.

The bank revealed earlier this month that it is relying on outsourcing deals to keep it on a disciplined refresh cycle in the face of cost pressures.