Equinix's Melbourne data centre to open in weeks

Data centre giant Equinix will open its long-touted fourth facility in Australia, the ME1 IBX data centre in Melbourne, in the coming weeks.

Equinix first revealed plans for a Melbourne facility in 2013. At the time it said it would invest US$60 million in the 9800 square metre data centre, to be built at 600 Lorimer Street in Port Melbourne, the same street that houses NextDC's M1 facility.

The company today announced ME1 will open "in the coming weeks".

The facility adds to Equinix’s three Sydney data centres, which cover a combined total of 14,400 square metres.

It will offer space for 1500 cabinets. A first phase of 375 cabinets will be completed when ME1 launches, Equinix said.

The company is hoping to lure local network providers along with financial services, cloud and digital content businesses with the new facility. 

Bulletproof, Connectivity IT, Exigent, Servers Australia as well as network providers Telstra, Vocus and Firstpath have taken space in ME1 already, Equinix said today.

Equinix former managing director Tony Simonsen last year said the facility would employ around 20 people - predominantly in sales, operations and admin roles - in the first 12 months.

ME1 is also expected to house a small network operations centre supported by staff in Sydney and Singapore.

The new data centre forms part of Equinix's US$227 million (A$291 million) global expansion.

The data centre operator also announced plans to build new facilities in New York, Singapore, London and Toronto, adding approximately 93,000 square metres to the more than ten million square metres of floor space it currently holds around the world.