NextDC has announced it will build its first regional data centre in Maroochydore on Queensland's Sunshine Coast as it aims to bolster cloud and connectivity support for regional businesses.

To be known as SC1, the new data centre will have a total planned capacity of 1MW. It also hosts the Sunshine Coast International Broadband Network (SCIBN) cable landing station, a submarine cable that connects to the 7,000km Japan-Guam-Australia South submarine cable.

It will the first of a series of regional-based edge sites that will target regional hubs across Australia that have been previously uncatered for, NextDC said.

"The edge is an emerging pillar of our digital infrastructure platform. The acquisition of SC1 and the SCIBN Cable Landing Station leverages several years of research into the growth of edge computing and the current and future requirements of digitally enabled regional communities," NextDC CEO Craig Scroggie said.

"SC1 marks an important first step in our edge data centre network expansion plans which is supported by our national digital infrastructure platform."

Meanwhile, Equinix said its Perth-based international business exchange (IBX) data centre PE3 is now open, following an initial investment by the company of approximately AU$71 million.

The PE3 is located adjacent to the PE2, and for the first phase, provides an initial capacity of approximately 700 cabinets and a colocation space of more than 1,830 square metres. When fully built, PE3 will offer 1,650 cabinets and a colocation space of more than 10,600 square metres.

The opening of the PE3 marks Equinix's 18th IBX in Australia, with others located across Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide, and Brisbane. In Asia-Pacific, Equinix operates 51 IBX data centres across 13 metros in Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, and Singapore. 

Over in Hong Kong, the construction of China Mobile International's Fo Tan data centre is now underway. The facility, expected to be operational by 2025, will directly link to China Mobile's other five self-built core data centres in the Greater Bay Area of Hong Kong and to the rest of the world via five international submarine cables and five core cross-border terrestrial cable systems. 

Additionally, Telstra Purple said it will be bringing a public and private cloud solution to market in the form of Telstra Hybrid Cloud. To be available from early next year for Telstra enterprise customers, Telstra Hybrid Cloud, according to Telstra Purple, will deliver "the best of both cloud worlds".  

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