Brisbane data centres unscathed by flood

The rainfall affected area - between the Sunshine Coast and Northern Rivers of New South Wales - covers just about every single data centre in Queensland, including the Polaris and Digital Sense facilities in and around Brisbane.

Representatives from Digital Sense, WebCentral and Host Networks in Brisbane's Technology Park all reported that their facilities are above water and unscathed from the floods.

A spokesperson for Host Networks said none of the tenants of Brisbane's Technology Park have reported problems.

"Amazingly, there were no power outages," he said. "We've come out completely fine."

A spokesperson for Melbourne IT-owned WebCentral, based in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley, said there had been no flooding in either of the hosting company's facilities.

"It does help that we're on the sixth floor of a building," she joked.

Michael Tran, CEO of Digital Sense said that for once business operators could be thankful for the red tape they have to go through when building a facility.

Businesses and in some case residences in Brisbane can only gain council approval for new buildings if they are positioned at least 300mm above the Q100 line - which marks the highest flood levels Brisbane has experienced in the last 100 years.

Digital Sense is "positioned nicely on a hill" in the Brisbane suburb of Kenmore, Tran said, "one of the highest positions in Brisbane."

Tran said his ping tests of key facilities around Brisbane had detected some connectivity problems in flooded fibre pits. But there were no major outages reported at any of his competitors.

"There have been no power outages, but we've had the generator on full standby," he said.  "Telstra exchanges have been going down, but they've been quite localised."

Telstra reported late today that 900 ADSL services across Mullumbimby, Nimbin, Ewingsdale and Bangalow are currently down due to the floods.

There are also some mobile coverage issues in Lismore and Dungog in NSW, and West Brisbane, North Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.