Confidence. Connectivity. Convenience.
The three Cs are behind the Sunshine Coast's ongoing success in attracting big business to the region and pivotal to a globally respected data centre operator purchasing the International Broadband Submarine Cable landing station from the council.
ASX-listed NEXTDC will own and operate the cable landing station, a $8 million deal set to create jobs and stimulate more investment in the region.
Sunshine Coast Council Mayor Mark Jamieson today (December 20) handed over the keys to the cable landing station to NEXTDC Chief Executive Officer Craig Scroggie.
Mayor Jamieson said NEXTDC, an established, respected and well-credentialed data centre provider and operator, would bring an increased technology and innovation focus to the region.
"Data centres are becoming an essential part of the business, economic and social landscape and a core element of the digital architecture that underpins connectivity, accessibility, security and information storage," Mayor Jamieson said.
"They house and manage computer infrastructure for large and small businesses, which rent space and provide high capacity, high speed connectivity.
"NEXTDC's global linkages will deliver the Sunshine Coast unprecedented expertise and significant quality assurance for their customers who store their data at the data centre.
"Leveraging off NEXTDC's expertise in this field will give council the ability to attract new businesses which would not ordinarily be found in a regional city.
"More jobs and a wider range of occupations, particularly in IT, will be created.
"For a data centre operator, the likes of NEXTDC, to establish a presence on the Sunshine Coast – outside of a capital city – demonstrates confidence in our region."
Sunshine Coast Tech Industry Alliance inaugural chair and ENTAG Group CEO Kris Carver described the sale as another critical piece of the puzzle, taking the region further towards national and international recognition as a place to do business.
"The NEXTDC data centre maximises the investment in the submarine cable and is another foundational brick for organisations on the Sunshine Coast to compete nationally and internationally," Mr Carver said.
"It provides further support for the tech industry and joins other game changing projects – from advanced manufacturing through to the Sunshine Coast Airport FAN announcement.
"When you place all those pieces together, you attract other business and help those large, tech savvy organisations already here, such as the insurance industry, grow.
"We now have a data centre and a direct link from the Sunshine Coast, which increases speed and reduces latency and that really sets us up, especially in the area of gaming and e-sports, one of the fastest growing industries in the world."
NEXTDC Chief Executive Officer Craig Scroggie said SC1 marked an important first step in the organisation's edge data centre network expansion plans which is supported by its national digital infrastructure platform.
"Edge facilities form an emerging pillar of our digital infrastructure network, and SC1 is the first of multiple edge data centre sites to come," Mr Scroggie said.
"The acquisition of SC1 and the Sunshine Coast International Broadband Network Cable Landing Station leverages several years of research into the growth of edge computing and the current and future requirements of digitally enabled regional communities."
Mayor Jamieson said the cable landing station was not core local government infrastructure and it had always been a council ambition to use it to attract a major data centre operator to the Sunshine Coast.
"Building the cable landing station was a first for an Australian local government and this deal once again shows this council's future focus and ability to continually deliver innovative solutions for our community," Mayor Jamieson said.
International Broadband Submarine Cable project fast facts:
- Council opened the cable landing station in 2020 and the value of that investment, together with our investment in the Japan-Guam-Australia submarine cable connection to the Sunshine Coast is now paying dividends.
- The cable network has already provided our region, and beyond, extraordinary capacity to accommodate fast, reliable transfer of data across the world, Queensland's first direct connection to global markets.
- The submarine cable project includes the installation of a 550km undersea fibre optic cable which connects the Sunshine Coast to the 7000km Japan-Guam-Australia (JGA) submarine cable.
- The cable, which is laid on or buried under the sea floor, connects to the cable landing station adjacent to the new Maroochydore City Centre project.
- The Sunshine Coast International Broadband Network project will help stimulate local business, generate new investment, and improve telecommunications diversity to Australia's east coast.
- The cable will help to future proof the Sunshine Coast's telecommunications capacity and increase our region's smart city capability by ensuring access to important data networks.
- The Sunshine Coast International Broadband Submarine Cable Project will help retain jobs that might otherwise have been lost to the region and stimulate new investment and employment growth. In total, the project has been forecast to contribute up to 864 jobs and stimulate $927 million in new investment in Queensland.
- The cable landing station was completed in September 2019 and was operational in March 2020.
- The cable landing station has the capacity to cater for four submarine cables and houses 24 data cabinets.
- In June 2020, Sunshine Coast Council landed a Cyber Security Innovation Node, one of only two regional nodes appointed in the country.
*Who is NEXTDC?
NEXTDC Ltd is an Australian Stock Exchange listed company on the ASX200, which was established in Brisbane in 2010 and currently has 11 data centres across Australia. These data centres are all located in capital cities servicing 1,364 customers. Their ecosystem consists of 640+ cloud platforms, carriers and information communication technology providers, delivering a comprehensive suite of information technology solutions spanning the globe
