IFT - Infratil

[Lewylewylewy]

Honestly, I have no idea. But in my opinion...

Longer term if Microsoft / Amazon refine their offering, nobody else stands a chance at any big growth here. Microsoft have the biggest advantage IMO because they can do cheaper software, they get an amazing deal on hardware, they know the software better than anyone else, they can market it better than anyone else. Marketing is unique because they can change their licensing for non cloud customers to tease then into the cloud, then IT people will want to take the cloud exams to get qualified, which is powerful because when people get qualifications in an area, they tend to become evangelists. Why? Because firstly there's a feel good factor of having the qualification in something that people around you are enquiring about. Secondly they know the product so they're comfortable using it, so they look like better employees. There's risk in putting in another product and looking like an idiot. Thirdly they are forced to learn all the features of the product, so they know the benefits of the product without knowing the technical benefits of the other product (a problem because adverts are salesy and non technical, when the advisor to the buyer or buyer themselves is technical). The exam training is practically selling the products and forcing prospective customers to repeat the benefits over and over in their head to exam cram. Also it makes sense for managers to use technology their staff are trained in.

So Microsoft have the edge in my opinion...

However, at the moment, if their sales are good and they have loyal customers and the purchase is earnings accreditive, or if they can offer something the big guys can't (local datacenter, access to said datacenter, support, extra services such as engineer resources for projects, data sovereignty, etc) then they may be sorted. Also they may have barriers to exit for customers, such as difficulty migrating out of the datacentre due to size of data stored and inability to migrate it out without an outage, fear of change. There is a comfort factor of knowing where your datacenter actually is and knowing the people hosting it.

Also Microsoft might not sort their $#!& out and might not engineer, maintain or push the product properly. Nothing is certain, right? It did take an unusually large amount of time to get azure out of beta.

All that being said, I would guess that there will be a place for small, local datacentres such as the one IFT have just bought. It's just not likely to be the next XRO.

[Zaphod]

I would say their main customer is government agencies - seems as though big operators Google or Amazon have their own data centres. But likes of Xero or Small buisness that don't want their own server, large private businesses etc. Seems a universal requirement for a lot of companies... Even though it's a slightly different business to there usual infrastructure investments it looks to be the goods - I must say the images of our new investment are about as boring as they get, racks of servers! However boring usually means a good investment!

Yes, Google, Amazon and Microsoft tend to build their own facilities. The Sydney-based Microsoft data centre is in North Rydge and the AWS facilities are in Eastern Creek & Smeaton Grange, all of which are fairly non-descript but obviously secure building. I'd agree that the Canberra location is primarily aimed at Government institutions, although with a cooler climate and further inland provides it with some strategic advantages.

The good thing about data centres is although they cost significant sums to build, there is very little staffing involved aside from a handful of tech's and security that is obviously paid for by the customers anyway.

One of my previous roles was managing a large data centre for a multi-national, before there were very many co-lo's available.

[Zaphod]

So Microsoft have the edge in my opinion...

I think a lot of people underestimate Microsoft and wrote them off for missing the IaaS, PaaS and mobile trends, but they have a significant war chest of cash, some highly experienced and capable staff and a deep ingrained presence in corporations and homes. Amazon have the first starter advantage, but I agree with you that MS have the edge in many ways.

All that being said, I would guess that there will be a place for small, local datacentres such as the one IFT have just bought. It's just not likely to be the next XRO.

There's probably a few latency sensitive applications that would benefit from being located close to use, plus a Canberra centre might make a great location for redundancy. In terms of weather there aren't any major threats, although obviously being located in a capital city might raise some risks.

To me it's quite an exciting investment for IFT to make! Hopefully it will pay off!

[macduffy]

To me it's quite an exciting investment for IFT to make! Hopefully it will pay off!

Let's hope so. Better than NZ Bus or those dud secondary-level European airports! Is it reasonable to think that govt agencies might be reluctant to entrust their data to facilities owned by major foreign multi-nationals such as Microsoft and Amazon and that therefore the Canberra operation will retain a competitive advantage in that regard?

[Zaphod]

Let's hope so. Better than NZ Bus or those dud secondary-level European airports! Is it reasonable to think that govt agencies might be reluctant to entrust their data to facilities owned by major foreign multi-nationals such as Microsoft and Amazon and that therefore the Canberra operation will retain a competitive advantage in that regard?

Yes, that's a very good point - that's a real concern amongst Governments and many corporations throughout the world.

Microsoft are currently fighting a court case involving the US Government's request for Microsoft to hand over an individual's emails that are hosted in a Dublin based data centre. The US Government's position is that Microsoft is an American company and is therefore bound by US law and that they must comply with the court order issued for them to hand over the emails. Microsoft's position is that the US Government can't infringe upon the sovereignty of another country and therefore should seek an alternative method (such as the use via the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty) to gain access to the data.

The implications of the outcome of this case are significant, with most competitors such as Apple, Google et al filing amicus briefs with the court siding with Microsoft.

For this reason (and quite a few others), the market for data centres wholly owned and operated within the legal jurisdiction of the local country are growing very quickly.

[mondograss]

It's common for public health data to not be allowed to leave the country and I expect other govt held public data is the same, so yes I'd say that a locally owned data center provider would be more attractive than a multi-national, provided they can still offer the same technological benefits and disaster recovery options.

[Lewylewylewy]

Yup, this is a good share for diversification. Also, I like them because this is the way I would run my business if I had a $#!& load of money; just get a successful business going, then use the spare cash to have a pop at other things that interested me out ideas I had. Keep doing that and eventually strike it super rich. Plus it's fun.

[GTM 3442]

Interesting.

As Infratil get in, Tata get out. . .


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/b...w/52334793.cms

[peat]

Interesting.

As Infratil get in, Tata get out. . .


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/b...w/52334793.cms

but as with all transactions there is always a seller and a buyer. In this case the purchaser is Temasek, the Singaporean state investment vehicle, so presumably they see the good.

[macduffy]

but as with all transactions there is always a seller and a buyer. In this case the purchaser is Temasek, the Singaporean state investment vehicle, so presumably they see the good.

And the Tata group does have its challenges, e.g. Tata Steel.