Macquarie Government's Aidan Tudehope
Macquarie Government and Macquarie Data Centres will begin building a new data centre Intellicentre 5 (IC5) facility in Canberra in July with an initial $17 million investment.
The funds will be put towards the first stage of construction of 1.5 megawatts (MW) by December.
Once completed, the full Canberra campus comprising IC4 and IC5 will be 4MW, with additional capacity to expand further if required.
The new facility will use the latest physical and virtual security and compliance credentials to manage government cloud workloads at the protected, secret and above levels. These include being designed to achieve Tier IV data centre standards, being SCEC Zone 5 ready, and retaining 120 plus NV1 government-cleared engineers.
“Risk to the government of a cyber breach and the dependency on cloud services are at an all-time high – we’re not just going to return to the ‘norm’ after this pandemic and facilities of this calibre are an essential requirement in Canberra,” Macquarie Government managing director Aidan Tudehope said.
“Government departments need to have clarity over data sovereignty – who controls the data, where does it reside, and who has access. We cover these bases by ensuring Australian control and access only by Australian Government-cleared specialists.
“The IC5 South Bunker at Macquarie Data Centres’ Canberra campus will also provide a safe haven for agencies that don’t want all their eggs in one basket, whether that’s splitting data between our facilities or other providers.”
ANZ Banking Group has provided an increase in the syndicated banking facilities from $100 million to $140 million to fund investment in IC5 construction, cyber security services and the ongoing build of IC3 East at the Macquarie Park data centre campus.
So far, Macquarie Telecom’s data centre investment has reached up to $100 million this year.
The investment will take advantage of the Federal Government’s ‘Instant Asset Write-Off’ and ‘Backing Business Investment’ stimulus measures providing accelerated capital allowances deductions for plant, equipment and other depreciating assets.
“IC5 and Macquarie’s investment into Australia’s data centre ecosystem will not only create valuable jobs, but build sovereign security skills and capabilities in what has become a vital industry for our nation,” Assistant Minister for Finance Zed Seselja said.
IC5 will also bring a number of permanent and temporary jobs in areas such as cyber security, engineering and construction, and will see the expansion of its existing graduate program to give additional opportunities to new graduates.
In December, Macquarie Government sealed a $20 million deal with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and claims more than 42 per cent of agencies use its cyber security, secure internet gateway and cloud services.
