Craig Scroggie, CEO & Managing Director at NEXTDC posted on LinkedIn today [23rd April 2025] that he is “excited to share that NEXTDC is ready to start the development of SC2”, the company’s second data centre in Maroochydore [Sunshine Coast, Queensland]. He states that: “This next-generation facility will support the booming demand for digital infrastructure across the region”.
SC2 will be located right alongside the existing NEXTDC SC1 facility that hosts the Sunshine Coast International Broadband Network cable landing station — “putting it right at the heart of one of Australia’s most connected digital gateways”
The facility represents NEXTDC’s continuing contribution to the Australia Connect initiative, a partnership with Google and the Sunshine Coast Council “to bring even more international connectivity to the region — including the new Tabua trans-Pacific cable, linking Australia with the U.S. and beyond”.
The Australia Connect initiative was announced by Brian Quigley, VP, Global Network Infrastructure, Google Cloud in November 2024 in order to further the reach, reliability, and resilience of digital connectivity in Australia and the Indo-Pacific region. He stated then that “this investment will deliver new subsea cable systems and build on the Pacific Connect Initiative”.
Quigley’s blog of November 2024 continues: “The Bosun subsea cable will connect Darwin, Australia to Christmas Island, which has onward connectivity to Singapore. The name, Bosun, refers to both the White-tailed Tropicbird — the iconic bird of Christmas Island — and the nautical term for a ship’s lead deckhand. Additionally, a new interlink cable will connect Melbourne, Perth, and Christmas Island. In Melbourne, the interlink cable will connect to the Honomoana cable system, part of the Pacific Connect Initiative, creating a new interconnection point for services from the U.S. to Asia.
Once operational, Bosun and the interlink cable will deliver new digital pathways for Australia, enhancing the reliability and resilience of the Internet within the country and throughout the Indo-Pacific region.
In addition to the Bosun subsea cable system, we’re working with partners like Vocus to deliver terrestrial fiber pairs that connect Darwin to the Sunshine Coast, connecting Bosun with the Tabua subsea cable system that connects the United States and Australia to Fiji.
The Australia Connect initiative is a collaborative effort involving Google and several key partners, including: NEXTDC, SUBCO, Vocus, along with state and local governments in Darwin, Perth, and on the Sunshine Coast”.
