NZ’s Datacom becomes Aussie govt data centre provider
Company becomes one of five suppliers as federal government looks to trim $A1 billion from its data centre costs through whole-of-government contracts.
New Zealand’s Datacom has been named one of five companies that will supply billions of dollars of data centre services to the Australian federal government over the next decade and a half - albeit at keen rates as it seeks to trim costs.
The IT services company was one of four named after a supplier panel tender process run by the Department of Finance and Deregulation. Other companies are expected to be added to the panel, which will be in place for five years and supply data centre services to more than 100 federal and state agencies as their existing contracts with other suppliers expire, or they require more capacity.
Federal government agencies operating under the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 (FMA) spend an estimated $US4.3 billion a year on IT and communications.
Of that, around $A850 million per annum is on data centres, with FMA agencies using about 30,000 square metres of data centre space.
A recent review – mirroring the shift to all-of-government contracts and supplier panels on this side of the Tasman – recommended whole-of-government contracts as the key mechanism to shave $A1 billion over 15 years from federal government data centre costs.
Datacom is headquartered in Wellington and majority owned by Wellingtonian John Holdsworth, with NZ Post holding a minority stake.
Datacom’s most recent full-year financial result, released in July last year, its net profit increase 13.8% from $26.6 million to $30.2 million (on $667 million revenue).
The company has data centres in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.
The profit increase was largely due to expanding business in Australia, where around 1100 or Datacom’s 3500 staff are located.
Mr Holdsworth is also an investor in Pacific Fibre.
NBR staff
Thu, 07 Apr 2011
Thu, 07 Apr 2011
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NZ’s Datacom becomes Aussie govt data centre provider
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