Built by NEXTDC on the corner of Frome and Pirie Streets in the Adelaide CBD, the $100 million data centre is the most advanced of its kind in South Australia and the listed company’s debut in the state.

Situated on what once was Adelaide’s city beach volleyball site, the data centre contains nearly 3000 sqm of technical space to support government and enterprise clients in the defence, space, health, mining and resources industries.

ASX-listed NEXTDC – valued at nearly $10 billion – said it guarantees 100 per cent uptime at the site, thanks to its battery-powered backup power supply, which is also supported by a Rolls Royce engine.

The data centre – dubbed ‘A1’ – was announced in 2022 after the Adelaide City Council earlier approved plans to revoke the community land status of the beach volleyball site to sell the land to a private developer, despite public backlash to the proposed sale of the corner block.

NEXTDC’s newest data centre on the corner of Frome and Pirie Streets. Photo: David Simmons / InDaily

The Frome Street building is Adelaide’s first NEXTDC data centre.

The company has six data centres in Sydney, three in Melbourne, two in Brisbane, two in Perth, and one in Port Headland, Canberra, Darwin, the Sunshine Coast, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Auckland and the Pilbara.

Today, at the launch ceremony for the data centre, CEO Craig Scroggie said he would like to build a second facility in Adelaide.

“South Australia has an extraordinary opportunity to build jobs and leading industries of the future, but you need world-class mission-critical infrastructure assets to build it from,” Scroggie said.

“The rate of growth in computing continues to be exponential, so yes, we are already looking for our next site to develop.

“We will, over time, continue to grow and ensure that we can meet all of the future needs of South Australia’s digital infrastructure.”

Inside the data centre. Photo: David Simmons / InDaily

The centre is “the first tier four Uptime Institute-certified piece of mission-critical infrastructure ever built in South Australia,” according to Scroggie.

“It is one of the highest standards in the world,” he said.

“Being able to open what is not only the world’s highest-standard data centre but most energy efficient, is a really important achievement for the state.”

Also speaking at the launch event, South Australian Treasurer Stephen Mullighan said the NEXTDC building was an “extraordinary investment” in the state.

“This is in not only digital infrastructure – the infrastructure of the future – but a remarkable investment in our city and our state,” he said.

“Seeing Craig and NEXTDC make this really significant investment… speaks to the emerging success that we’re having as a state.

“We look forward to this being the first of hopefully several of these sorts of investments from NEXTDC, and Craig, I can commit to you that you will have a government and a council that will work closely beside you to make sure that you can bring your strategies to reality in our great city.”

The ‘cool’ room keeps the computers at a safe temperature. Photo: David Simmons / InDaily

At the Adelaide data centre, fibre network provider Vocus is collaborating with NEXTDC to enhance its capability from Adelaide to Melbourne, Perth and Darwin to meet growing demand for cloud computing and artificial intelligence technologies.

“Digital infrastructure plays a critical role in the success of every business, and I am delighted to be strengthening our partnership with NEXTDC to advance South Australia’s digital economy,” Vocus CEO Ellie Sweeney said.

“The A1 Adelaide data centre is another pivotal intersection in the Vocus and NEXTDC footprint that is delivering high-capacity fibre networks and high-capacity data centres for communities and industry across South Australia and beyond.”