Bankwest moves into Fujitsu data centre in Perth

Photo: Tobey Black Photography

Commonwealth Bank subsidiary, Bankwest, has signed on as the first official customer of Fujitsu’s newly-opened data centre in Perth.

Bankwest CIO, Andy Weir, said in a statement the centre would enable the institution to develop and refine new ways of banking for its million-plus Australian customers.

“It also allows us to progress consolidating and migrating our critical systems into the new facility over the next 12-18 months," he said.

“It is a very significant investment and underlines our continued commitment to the Western Australian community and will ensure we continue to meet all our customer and regulatory requirements for security and privacy.”

The deal with Bankwest includes two five-year options to lease more than 500 square meters of space in Fujitsu's new centre.

The Western Australian data centre market continues to grow on the back of the resources boom, with Fujitsu indicating plans to target cloud solution opportunities in Asia through the centre. More than 3000 square metres of the 8000 square metre complex is classed as a Tier III centre, with secure raised floor space, three main data halls suitable for cabinet and cage installations and three smaller data halls which will be customised for companies that require dedicated private suites.

Fujitsu said the new facility would save about 20 per cent of in-house operational data centre costs, thanks to control management systems which remotely monitor and adjust power settings. The complex also includes biometric and other security technologies as well as metering capabilities to support enterprise compliance with energy legislation.

Green credentials

Fujitsu claims its Perth data centre, which has been operational since October, consumes 30 per cent less energy than standard facilities.

The hybrid cooling system also has the potential to save up to 80 per cent in water use. Water use remains a major issue in Perth; the WA Department of Water this month will launch a massive education campaign on the importance of saving water resources.

The system allows Fujitsu to offer free cooling as an option for customers over about eight months of the year. An environmental accounting service will break down each client’s power and cooling consumption within the data centre, including conversion into greenhouse emissions, in line with the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007.

Data in the cloud

For many CIOs - particularly those in government or financial sectors - a key stumbling block in the movement to the cloud lies around the sovereignty of data.

Most cloud providers cannot — or will not – provide data centres services in Australia, bringing into question the ownership and security of data held offshore. While telcos Telstra and Optus have both shifted strategy toward cloud offerings in the large enterprise, both are relatively immature and are yet to be complemented by those of Salesforce.com, Microsoft or Google.

Fujitsu has been working to expand its Australian footprint and now has more than 15,000 square metres of data centre floor space across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia. Additional Tier III centres are currently under construction in Western Sydney and Melbourne.

The company now has 9 Tier III data centres nationally and three secondary data centres. The Perth data centre is Fujitsu's 97th data centre globally.