Dell has successfully completed its move into Digital Realty data centers in Sydney and Melbourne. The expansion will enable the company to offer low latency cloud services to more customers in Australia and New Zealand.

"We are delighted to work with Dell to empower the company to optimize its data center strategy for its customers," commented Bernard Geoghegan, managing director for EMEA and Asia Pacific at Digital Realty.

"With the proliferation of data only set to increase, providing Dell with a comprehensive and adaptive solution to meet the dynamic needs of the business was paramount."

Last week, Digital Realty announced that its Melbourne facility achieved Platinum LEED certification, while Sydney got Gold. These were the first Australian data centers to be LEED-certified.

Double down under
The Sydney facility in Erskine Park offers 8,000 sq m of dedicated server space across eight data halls. The Melbourne site in Deer Park is smaller, with 6,000 sq m and six data halls. Both are Tier III certified, and claim PUE of less than 1.3.

To keep hardware operational under the hot Australian sun, Dell and Digital Realty are using fresh air cooling, with servers, networking and storage products designed to operate at 40 degrees Celsius, as opposed to the industry-standard 35 degrees.

The new facilities will complement existing data centers occupied by Dell in Canberra and Brisbane, placing the company’s cloud services in close proximity to the Australian capital and three of the country’s largest cities.

Digital Realty already measures the energy efficiency of its data centers using the National Australian Built Environmental Rating System (NABERS). But the company went further and became the first Australian data center operator to obtain the globally-recognized LEED certificates, developed by the US Green Building Council.

These certificates are not exclusive to the data center industry, and look at such areas as sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environment quality.

“These projects extend Digital Realty’s successful track record of sustainable certified buildings, which includes 40 projects across three continents,” said Aaron Binkley, director of sustainability at Digital Realty.

Earlier this year, a Dell spokesman said the company will stop building data centers in Europe, and instead focus on partnerships with hosting providers.