Australian systems availability company, Interactive, today opened an $8 million state-of-the-art data centre and recovery facility 15 kilometres outside the heart of Brisbane, Queensland.

Located at Eight Mile Plains Technology Park, the 750 square metre data centre operates from a separate power grid to the CBD, ensuring customers are not affected by city-based outages.

Two years in the making, Interactive managing director, Christopher Ride, said it will address a chronic shortage of data centre space in Australia.

He described the facility as cutting edge and said it sets a new standard in the region.

"Our new facility is one of the best data-centre operations available in Queensland - perfectly positioned in one of the best technology parks in Australia," Ride said.

"Quality data-centre space is like gold at the moment and Interactive has responded to customer demand by building a leading-edge facility to support them."

Customers to be located at the new facility include the Bank of Queensland (BOQ), which operates a stand-by workplace and IT systems for critical operations to be used in the event of a disaster.

Rising power consumption costs are forcing organizations to reassess their data centre needs and is driving the adoption of Green IT strategies.

Ride said the Queensland facility incorporates many of the latest green technologies. The Brisbane data centre is one of four Interactive data centres currently operational in Australia.

The next centre to open is located in Melbourne and will be operational in June, 2008.

- With Sandra Rossi