IBM SoftLayer Brings Melbourne Data Center Online

IBM has officially launched the first SoftLayer cloud data center in Australia. The company first announced the plan to launch operations out of a Digital Realty Trust facility in Melbourne in August.

The site replicates SoftLayer cloud data centers elsewhere around the globe. It has capacity for more than 15,000 physical servers and will provide 10Gbps network connections to the SoftLayer cloud.

IBM continues its $1.2 billion global investment to expand the physical cloud footprint. The plan calls for cloud data centers in all major geographies and financial centers. This launch follows recent launches in Toronto, London and Hong Kong, all with an initial capacity for 15,000 physical servers and room to grow within Digital Realty facilities.

Still left on the global tour are China, Washington, D.C., and Dallas for federal customers, India and Mexico City. The company plans to expand in the Middle East and Africa in 2015.

The facility provides Australians with in-country data residency as well as a faster way to reach the cloud locally. It builds out SoftLayer’s Asia Pacific presence further and complements data centers in Hong Kong and Singapore. Asia Pacific customers also gain redundancy options within the region.

“Melbourne is our first data center location in Australia and a significant milestone for SoftLayer," Lance Crosby, SoftLayer CEO, said. "We can now bring all the benefits and advantages of SoftLayer’s cloud platform to customers in country or to customers looking for an Australian location.”

One customer using services out of the new facility is Atmail, a Queensland-based email-messaging platform company with about 4,500 customers worldwide. “SoftLayer’s new location in Australia is huge for us,” said Mark Phillips, vice president of global sales at Atmail. “Data sovereignty issues are top-of-mind for many of our customers in Australia, so the ability to now move data to this particular region is very advantageous to us.”

Other SoftLayer customers in the region include Fluccs, Rightship, Loft Group, HotelsCombined, Digital Market Square, Bugwolf, Cartesian and Portland Software.