The latest certification by the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) confirms that Macquarie Data centers’ facilities offer capability to support government information up to top secret classification with full redundancy at the Certified Strategic level.
Macquarie Data centers, part of Macquarie Telecom Group, has announced that its Sydney data centers in the Macquarie Park Data Center Campus and Sydney Central have achieved the Certified Strategic designation under the Digital Transformation Agency’s (DTA) Hosting Certification Framework.
Certification under the framework is a central feature of the DTA’s Hosting Strategy championed by Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business, the Hon. Stuart Robert. The Australian Government is, through the framework, seeking to exert stronger government controls over the location of government information both at rest and in transit.
The framework provides government agencies with clear guidelines as to the security credentials, capabilities, and corporate ownership and controls of data center providers servicing Australian government agencies.
The Certified Strategic listing of IC1, IC2 and IC3 means Macquarie Data centers’ entire portfolio is now deemed by the federal government to provide the highest level of security compliance to support sensitive government data and whole-of-government platforms. This extends to defense data, with the department recently unveiling its Defense Data Strategy, which highlights data as a strategic military asset.
Following Strategic Certification of Macquarie’s Canberra data centers, IC4 and IC5, in June, certification of the group’s Sydney data centers puts Macquarie into an elite group of certified providers which are able to provide multiple availability zones in two or more locations.
Macquarie’s two campuses are within 250 kilometers of each other, while the Sydney Campus is approximately 18 kilometers from the CBD. The locations are strategically positioned to offer maximum redundancy and geo diversity, and minimal latency, for cloud workloads.
Macquarie Data centers Group Executive, David Hirst, said that the Certified Strategic designation is further proof that the company’s portfolio of local data centers provides the highest levels of security with the lowest risk profile when supporting government workloads.
“Our facilities provide both the assurance of redundancy capability and Zone 4 level security to government, with the option to extend to Zone 5, which are crucial elements when it comes to hosting sensitive information,” he said.
“The Certified Strategic listing of our portfolio is further proof that Macquarie Data centers is rising to the evolving expectations of private and public sector customers. We are constantly investing in building new facilities to meet the growing need for secure, sovereign and equipped facilities to host sensitive information, as evidenced by our recent announcement to build our largest data center yet within our Macquarie Park Data Center Campus – Intellicenter 3 Super West (IC3SW).”
Managing Director of Macquarie Government, Aidan Tudehope, commented: “Macquarie is responsible for protecting the information of 42% of federal government agencies, which gives us unique insight into the threat patterns specific to Australian government agencies. We also have the security and capability required for protecting data up to top-secret classification at our Intellicenter 5 (IC5) facility which was built for this very purpose.
“Our facilities continually meet rigorous domestic and international certification standards. Certification by the DTA of our full data center portfolio at the strategic level, combined with our status as one of a select few integrated service providers to government and nearly 200 government-cleared engineers, adds to our bona fides as a tier one supplier to government.”
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