Equinix is a global interconnection and data centre company, and it keeps on growing with its latest announcement to build another large scale data centre in Sydney, Australia.

This new announcement comes just a month after Equinix launched its first Melbourne data centre ME1.

Equinix says the centre is an ‘International Business Exchange’ (IBX), called SY4, and it will ‘address the growing demand for premium data centre services in Australia.’

SY4 will be Equinix’s fourth data centre in Sydney, and its fifth in Australia, taking Equinix’s total investment in Australia close to a whopping US $360 million.

Jeremy Deutsch, MD of Equinix Australia said: “SY4 shows our ongoing commitment in the Sydney market and will enable our Australian customers to continue to take advantage of innovations including hybrid cloud architectures and the Equinix Cloud Exchange.

“The new facility will ensure that we continue to deliver on our promise to help businesses safeguard their mission-critical data, aid growth and rapid scalable deployment through our global footprint, and with the highest levels of security and operational reliability.”

Facts and stats around the data centre market and Equinix:

1. Frost & Sullivan’s Australian Data Centre Services Market 2014 report shows that ‘the Australian data centre services market is estimated to grow to $1.7 billion by 2020’, and that ‘Australia's data centre services market recorded $698 million in revenues for 2013 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 13.9% to 2020.’

Equinix says it is meeting demand for premium data centre services in Australia, with the recent opening of ME1 in Melbourne, and this new, additional investment in Sydney.

2. The new SY4 facility will be located in the suburb of Alexandria, just south of Sydney’s CBD and in close proximity to the Equinix SY1/2 and 3 campus. SY4 will provide a total of 3,000 cabinets of capacity at full build, with the first phase of 1,500 cabinets scheduled for completion in Q2 2016.

The over 12,500 square metre facility will help businesses safeguard mission-critical data with the highest levels of security and operational reliability.

3. Equinix notes ‘demand for premium data centres services has been led by Australia’s early adoption of the hybrid cloud model’. It points to a recent survey by Dimensional Research which ‘found that 85% of Australian enterprises are planning to deploy to multiple clouds within the next 12 months, with 83% of enterprises indicating that direct connects to cloud providers are highly valued.’

The investment in SY4 is meeting this demand with the Equinix Cloud Exchange offering businesses secure, low-latency and high-performance direct connections with public and private cloud providers.

4. The IBX data centres at the Equinix Sydney campus are home to an increasing number of large enterprises, as well as robust business ecosystems for cloud, mobility, content, and financial services.

Equinix says that with its three Sydney data centres in close proximity, SY4 will be able to interconnect with the existing facilities via a dense dedicated fibre loop. This enables SY4 customers to leverage Equinix’s vibrant Australian ecosystems and interconnect with 600+ existing Equinix customers, 250+ cloud providers and 130+ networks.

5. The new SY4 phased build is just one of many in Equinix’s growing global platform it dubs ‘Platform Equinix’, which the company says ‘consists of more than 100 data centres in 33 markets. Earlier this year Equinix announced that it is boosting interconnection capacity with five new data centres in London, Melbourne, New York, Singapore and Toronto.’

The Hon. Stuart Ayres, MP, New South Wales minister for trade, tourism and major events said: “Sydney is Australia’s leading business centre and capital of Australia’s top State economy. It is the first choice for many local and international businesses wanting to grow in our dynamic State.

“The NSW Government has worked with Equinix to support the company’s growth in Sydney and we welcome the company’s latest investment which will help to ensure that New South Wales businesses have the opportunity to leverage world-class interconnection services.

“These services assist in unlocking new revenue opportunities and drive growth in our digital economy. Our information and communication technology and digital/creative strengths will be on show next month at CeBIT Australia 2015 in Sydney.”