Spark puts $15m into Waikato data centre
New Zealand telco Spark is investing more than $15 mililon into new digital infrastructure for Waikato.
The digital infrastructure upgrade will support access to high-quality cloud and connectivity services in the region, with another major IT player saying more major infrastructure upgrades were on the cards as AI takes off both nationally and globally.
Spark is partnering with the University of Waikato to take over the management of its existing data centre facility on the university campus and will make further investments to upgrade and grow capacity at the site as a key “edge data centre” for Spark and its business customers.
Customer director for enterprise and government Mark Beder said last week that to support further growth within the data centre, Spark was also investing in a new, modern fibre link from Ōtorohonga to Te Kauwhata, intended to serve the fast-growing suburbs of Hamilton East and Ruakura.
“We have a clear strategy at Spark to invest in data centre capacity for New Zealand, and building a network of regional data centres is an important part of these plans,” Beder said.
“As we continue to experience an exponential growth in data, ongoing migration to the cloud, and embrace new technologies like generative AI, access to high-quality, resilient computing infrastructure such as cloud services located in data centres is critical to the competitiveness of New Zealand and our regions.”
University of Waikato chief information officer Eion Hall said as the university modernised its IT and cloud infrastructure, Spark would help by investing in new infrastructure on campus, putting the university at the heart of cloud growth in Waikato.
“This partnership also enables us to focus on our technology strategy, and utilising Spark’s capabilities as a leading data centre operator, strategically supporting our business application and ICT infrastructure projects,” Hall said.
Spark’s data centre strategy includes plans to develop three large-scale data centre campuses in Auckland’s North Shore, CBD (Aotea), and South (Takanini), while continuing to invest in its metro sites in Wellington and Christchurch and retaining data centre facilities in regional centres such as Hamilton, Tauranga, and Dunedin.
Spark and the University of Waikato have also worked with the Research Education Advanced Network New Zealand to ensure data centre sites at the university and Spark’s Takanini data centre facility in Auckland are connected to New Zealand’s national research, science and education digital network, which connects with more than 120 networks globally to enable researchers to collaborate.
Datacom data centres associate director Andrew Green, whose company marked the 10 year anniversary of its Kapua Data Centre in Hamilton last year, said AI would
be driving continued investment in the sector even more so than before, “so it’s likely we’re going to see increased investment from all major players when it comes to expanding and building facilities locally,” he said. “Datacom has invested more than $80m in its four local data centres, with recent upgrades to both our Kapua (Hamilton) and Auckland (Orbit) sites.
“We’ve also switched to a 100% renewable energy source, something that is appealing to customers who are looking at storage options that support their sustainability goals,” Green said.