Equinix President Samuel Lee said the company’s top priorities in Asia Pacific are now Melbourne, Osaka as well as China and India, at the launch of its third Sydney data center this week.

 

Computerworld Australia quoted Lee as saying customer demand in Australia is rising, and many of Equinix’s existing customers were looking for a presence in Melbourne.

 

"When we track the capital movements there is a significant amount of money going into Melbourne. We also hear the cost of doing business in Melbourne is relatively lower," Lee said at the Sydney 3 opening.

 

He also said demand is rising in Japan following the tsunami earlier this year.

 

"Osaka is no surprise. After the Japan earthquake the government is very keen to make Osaka the second financial and commercial capital of the country," Lee said.

 

Regarding the possibility of building a national data network across Australia, Lee was less enthusiastic, and said that the company prefers to focus strictly on first-tier cities. 

 

Equinix currently maintains data centers serving 300 customers in Australia, as well as 65 network service providers. 

 

It is currently in the process of introducing a marketplace service to allow company customers sharing space in Equinix data centers to buy services from each other, allowing for greater cooperation between cloud service providers, hosting providers and telephone carriers.