New data centre creates jobs boost for Western Sydney

Up to 50 new jobs will be created in Western Sydney over the next three years following the announcement yesterday by cloud computing company Rackspace of its investment in a new multimillion dollar data centre in Erskine Park.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Trade & Investment Andrew Stoner said US-based Rackspace’s investment was further evidence of Sydney and NSW’s attractiveness as a hub for the global ICT sector’s Australian and Asia-Pacific operations.

“This is fantastic news for Western Sydney and for the state’s reputation as Australia’s ICT hub,” Stoner said.

“The opening of this new data centre is also great news for government, enterprise and financial customers looking for local, dedicated, world-class onshore data hosting and cloud solutions.

“The Erskine Park site will be Rackspace’s first Australian data centre and its ninth centre globally, joining existing facilities in Dallas, Chicago, Virginia, London and, most recently, Hong Kong.

“Sydney and NSW are well positioned for growth in the expanding global digital economy and Rackspace’s investment is another significant vote of confidence in our capacity for innovation and collaboration across the ICT sector.”

Mark Randall, Country Manager of Rackspace, said Sydney’s global credentials as Australia’s leading digital and ICT hub made it a compelling choice for the company’s first Australian data centre.

"Locating our new data centre in Sydney was a natural choice for us,” Randall said.

“Its vibrant IT community consists of leading international and Australian companies and the existing IT infrastructure in NSW means we can deliver our cutting-edge hosting services at the highest standard.

“The support we received from NSW Trade & Investment played an important role in our decision to locate the data centre in Sydney.

“We were given access to crucial information about the NSW market, including research about graduate output and the NSW Jobs Action plan, which is a key incentive for our increasing staffing requirements.

“These insights, while being closely involved in the digital economy strategy and forums, saved us time and resources during the selection process.”

Stoner said the NSW Government is making significant efforts to promote NSW’s digital sector on the world stage and to create a long-term vision for the industry.

“We supported some of our best technology talent at the Asia-Pacific’s largest ICT industry exhibition, CeBIT Australia and at Asia’s biggest integrated ICT tradeshow, Communicasia 2012, in May and June this year,” Stoner said.

“In addition, we have established a new business office in Silicon Valley, to support homegrown start-up technology companies’ expansion into the US and to promote our local strengths to high-growth US companies - our depth of talent in research, skilled workforce, proximity to Asia and cultural similarities.

“We have also appointed a high-level task force to develop a digital economy industry action plan to outline a vision and strategy for the digital economy over the next decade in NSW.

“The final recommendations of the task force will be handed to government later this year, setting out actions for both industry and government that will encourage industry growth, productivity and innovation, and export performance.”