Datacom marks Kapua’s decade of data in Hamilton

Datacom’s Kapua data centre in Kirikiriroa Hamilton is marking a major milestone and celebrating ten years providing critical data storage and network connectivity for hundreds of businesses. 

Since opening its doors in 2013, Kapua has provided critical infrastructure for companies across New Zealand, and as far afield as Australia, and is currently home to nearly 200 customers across 500 rack spaces.  

Kapua (meaning “cloud” in Te Reo Māori) is one of four data centres that Datacom designed, built, own and operate in New Zealand and Datacom CEO Greg Davidson says the investment in local data centres represents the company’s deep commitment to meeting the needs of local businesses and supporting their growth. 

“We’ve had a Datacom team here in Kirikiriroa for over 50 years and it made sense to make an investment in a data centre of this scale here in the Waikato. Kapua is a hyper-scale facility that was purpose-built for large-scale deployments and it has been very satisfying to see it supporting major public organisations and private companies from the region and across the country.”  

Kapua was established after Datacom was selected to supply infrastructure to government agencies as part of an initiative to centralise and buy IT infrastructure as a service.  

As a result, Datacom has invested over 80 million dollars into Aotearoa’s economy building and improving its data centres. Customers housing data at Kapua span industries from international cloud and telecommunication providers, government departments, enterprise companies, major banks and financial organisations, to a range of IT service providers.  

Davidson says Datacom is also focused on reducing its carbon footprint and last year Kapua – along with all of Datacom’s data centres – switched to a 100% renewable energy source in partnership with local energy provider Mercury. 

Mercury supplies renewable energy – including hydro, wind and geothermal energy – which is helping enable the sustainability journey of both Datacom and its customers. 

Mayor of Hamilton, Paula Southgate, says ten years of Datacom’s Kapua data centre is a significant milestone for the region. 

 “Tech growth and innovation – through companies like Datacom – play a key role in our city’s growth and prosperity.”  

From the outset of Kapua, supporting Kirkiriroa’s growth and prosperity has been a focus. During construction, Datacom aimed to employ as many local people and businesses as possible. Up to 150 people worked on the build site at any given time throughout the 18-month build period. 

The site currently employs 15 local team members and is backed by experienced data centre specialists from across Datacom’s network of data centres. Positions in the data centres offer opportunities for growth and are a valuable talent pipeline, with a number of the original team moving into leadership roles.  

Datacom’s commitment to the region extends far beyond Kapua. Its Hamilton office has been open since 1969, with more than 110 employees currently providing technology services and support in the areas of cybersecurity, cloud, networks, SaaS and more, to a wide range of organisations in the Waikato.  

Community involvement is another meaningful way the business supports Hamilton, with the Special Olympics being a recent highlight. Datacom is a long-time sponsor of the event, and team members were excited to be able to contribute once again, after disruptions from the pandemic, providing volunteering, funding, and IT support to organisers and over 800 athletes.  

This strong presence in Kirkiriroa is a sense of pride for team members according to Head of Midlands, Steve Swallow and Associate Partnerships Director, Duncan Brough. 

"With over 100 Hamiltonians employed by Datacom we are armed with top talent and are helping drive the digital aspirations of some of the largest organisations who are important to the region's prosperity. Hamilton is an incredible place to live and do business and Datacom is honoured to be a stable and growing part of it," says Brough.  

“I'm proud of the employment opportunities we have created, careers pathways into tech for young talent and of course our significant investment in the digital foundation of Waikato and Aotearoa with our world class data centre, Kapua. With over 40 new staff starting with us over the last 12 months we continue to grow our presence and commitment to the region," says Swallow.  

As well as meeting the needs of the region and country right now, Davidson says Kapua is well positioned to support future growth and demand as data needs continue to expand at pace. Kapua is Datacom’s most expandable data centre, with the capacity to expand to well over 1,500 racks and 14MW of power.  

It holds tier three data centre status and is physically the best-connected site in New Zealand, with upwards of 40 different providers offering varying connectivity options from the site, either through the telecommunication rooms or from the data floors. 

The Kapua site was also selected for its geographic stability, identified as least at risk for geographical and climate impacts, and the local team has already had the opportunity to step-up when needed. When other parts of the country have grappled with natural disasters, the Kapua team has been able to support significant relocations at speed, bringing on a significant finance sector customer from Wellington in the wake of the Kaikoura earthquake in under two weeks. 

With the highest specifications, certifications, and SLAs available it’s ‘perfect for customers large and small,’ says Tom Jacob, Data Centres Director at Datacom. “It’s ideal for those looking for the lowest risk profile available in New Zealand.” 

Being locally owned and operated also means Kapua provides a local data storage solution to organisations that have a sovereign cloud (private) requirement, partnering with a range of global cloud providers including Microsoft, AWS and Google to provide a hybrid cloud offering that meets customers' needs.