Perth to Continue Riding Wave of New Data Centre Expansions, Says Equinix Australia Boss
By Cheyanne Enciso, The West Australian
March 21, 2023
Perth has firmly cemented its role as a digital gateway between Australia, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific region but the national boss of Equinix believes the city will continue riding the wave of new data centre expansions.
Managing director Guy Danskine said the volume of data around the world continued to grow at an enormous rate.
The Nasdaq-listed company runs 18 data centres across Australia, including three sites in Perth, covering more than 55,000 square metres in total.
In WA, Equinix also facilitates three sub-sea cables, which carry internet traffic, including two between Perth and Singapore.
“We all stream Netflix to our phones now, which is gigabits per second of throughput,” Mr Danskine, who previously worked at the data centre provider’s global headquarters at Redwood City, California, before returning home to head up Equinix’s Australian operations in 2020, said.
A gigabit internet connection transmits data at one billion bits per second — an incredibly fast bandwidth which translate to much less lag time when streaming videos, gaming or using immersive media such as virtual reality.
“Data centres are really the hubs of the internet,” Mr Danskine said.
“That means there is a need for more network, which include sub-sea cables and more needs for data centre services like ours.”
The company’s third sub-sea link, a 9800-kilometre cable linking Perth to Muscat, Oman in the Middle East, was switched on in October last year, further boosting Equinix’s offshore connectivity.
The Oman Australia Cable offers an alternative route for internet connectivity between the country, Middle East and Europe by avoiding the earthquake-prone path that currently goes through the . Strait of Malacca
It was recently announced the OAC would be extended by about 1200km to Salalah, Oman.
