Australian data center operator NEXTDC is continuing its national rollout, securing properties in Perth and Canberra for cloud computing services.

NEXTDC is planning data centers in a number of Australian capital cities ÔÇô Brisbane, Sydney, Perth and Canberra ÔÇô in preparation for demand it believes it will see for cloud computing services.

The Canberra facility, in Australia's government heartland, is purpose built and was previously occupied by a government tenant.

Sitting 6km outside of the capital, the 6,000 sq m facility which will be called the Cloud Centre in Canberra has been constructed to meet ASIO-T4 physical security standards.

It is connected to the major telecommunications players Telstra and Optus as well as ICON, an inter-government network.

The entire site spans 28,000 sq m and the data center itself allows for growth from 2,000 to 2,500 sq m, according to NEXTDC CEO Bevan Slattery.

"Cloud providers are looking to service Federal Government agencies, ideally want to house their critical infrastructure in an independent secure and well connected data center," Slattery said.

It sits close to an electricity substation and has fiber optic connections from Nextgen, Amcom, Optus and Telstra at street level and spans 8,100 sq m.

Once built, NEXTDC plans to have 3,000 sq m of fully operational hall space at the site.