Edge Centres lodges development approval for solar-power edge data center site Australia
Off-grid edge data center operator Edge Centres has set its sights on the Australian state of Victoria as the company's build site for what it hopes to be the first of many edge data centers to come.
The company lodged development approval for a site in Bendigo, regional Victoria, which is 150 kilometres outside of Melbourne. The site will play host to EC3, a 100% solar-powered off-grid edge facility that could be operational by November 2021.
The company specifically targets internet service providers, retail service providers and managed service providers with services including cloud connect, dark fibre, and IP transit. These are delivered through data center designs that are minimally dependent on utility power and have a carbon-negative footprint.
The company goes on to explain, "Each facility is equipped with just under 1MW of available state-of-the-art solar, and 48 hour battery and UPS backup technology, which supports 64 1KW quarter racks, delivered with N+1 power redundancy.
"In order to further decrease the impact of the high temperatures that define regional Australia's weather, each site is covered with a metal Thermal Insulator membrane which ensures ambient temperatures don't put additional strain on the facility or its cooling system.
According to Edge Centres CEO and founder Jonathan Eaves, development approval is an important step in kicking off the company's deployment in Australia.
"Right now, Australia is on the cusp of an edge infrastructure wave, and Edge Centres is building ahead of this generational spike in demand for IoT, edge computing, and cloud. Building ahead of this wave means that we have time to build and connect the necessary infrastructure so that these regional hubs that haven't been connected previously can be ready when it hits," Eaves says.
Over the next 18 months, Edge Centres also has plans to scale out its business across other Australian locations in Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland. Over the next 18 months, the company hopes to launch 20 sites in Australia and Japan.
"EC3 in Bendigo is the first of many Edge Centre facilities set to digitally transform and interconnect regional Australia. We're bringing highly sustainable, highly reliable, off-grid digital infrastructure to the edge, and are working tirelessly to help enterprises across the country to bridge the digital divide," concludes Eaves.
Edge Centres states that its sites are fully carrier-neutral in order to encourage competition, enrich Edge Centres' ecosystem, and to drive down prices for the customer.
