Leading Edge Data Centres secures $20m investment

Australian edge data centre network provider start-up Leading Edge Data Centres has secured a $20 million investment to help fund the development of its planned regional data centre network.

The company is planning to build a network of more than 20 Tier-3 data centres across regional Australia, becoming Australia's first dedicated edge data centre network provider.

Leading Edge DC expects its first sites in Newcastle and Tamworth to come online towards the end of the year. Additional deployments are planned for Albury, Wagga Wagga, Parkes, Dubbo and Coffs Harbour in the first half of 2021.

The $20 million facility from investment firm Washington H. Soul Pattison will be used to help fund capital expenditure for this rollout.

The company also recently secured investment from the APAC-focused SparkLabs Cultiv8 2020 accelerator program.

Leading Edge DC CEO And founder Chris Thorpe said the power of edge data centres — which locally host compute applications such as analytics, content distribution or digital mapping engines for faster processing — has the potential to provide the digital infrastructure needed to power growth in Australia's regional economy.

“Enhancing regional connectivity in Australia is core to what we are doing in bridging the digital divide between Metro and Regional Australia... Our edge network, powered by partnerships with strategic real estate, diverse network connectivity and cloud-ready services, delivers competitive solutions for customers requiring a smarter network,” he said.

“Our modular world-class Tier 3 data centre design is also exciting. The data centre is prefabricated and built locally offsite, in Newcastle NSW, with footprints that scale in 30 or 75 rack configurations. Within weeks we can be present in new locations with a world-class Tier 3 data centre, designed for Australian conditions, capable of scaling as required.”

Leading Edge DC is sourcing the preassembled data centre modules from Schneider Electric as part of a newly signed agreement with the multinational vendor.

Schneider plans to deliver all the data centre modules within the next 18 months.

“Schneider is dedicated to upgrading digital infrastructure from capitals to townships across Australia. Impressed with Leading Edge’s regional focus in particular, we had recognised the great synergy between Schneider’s expertise and Leading Edge’s ambitions in the very early stage of its development,” Schneider GM for data centres Mark Deguara said.

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