UK-based SoftIron is opening the first-ever component-level manufacturing facility in Australia, allowing it to locally build “clean” computer servers for Australian customers while boosting the country’s data infrastructure resilience. 

In order to establish the facility, SoftIron has received a $1.5 million Sovereign Industrial Capability Priority grant from the Australian Government. 

The grant provides up to 70% of the cost of a project that will build capabilities aligned with the Australian Department of Defence’s Sovereign Industrial Capability Priorities. 

“The support we have received from the Australian Government and Department of Defence cemented our decision to become the first company to build data centre products from the component level up, on Australian soil,” SoftIron’s Chief Operating Officer Jason Van der Schyff said. 

With the new facility, SoftIron will be able to locally manufacture its world-first open-source optimised appliances for scale-out data centres such as private and public cloud, and enterprise-scale facilities. 

The facility will be built in Sydney, making it the company’s second facility in the world after California, and is expected to start manufacturing in early 2022. This marks a major milestone in the company’s “Edge Manufacturing” strategy. 

“Our Edge Manufacturing approach is about building leading-edge manufacturing facilities close to where our end customers are located,” COO Van der Schyff said. 

“We are really excited to be building a facility as part of our expansion in Australia. By establishing our first-ever factory on Australian soil, we will help further bolster Australia’s data infrastructure resilience by locally manufacturing our world-leading data centre solutions.” 

SoftIron’s new facility builds on its expansion in Australia and the Asia Pacific region as it launched its global partner program and hired a regional sales director in 2020. 

“We believe this will be the model for all successful businesses worldwide. Some key hires in Perth and Sydney gave us our first foothold in the region,” COO Van der Schyff said. 

“Australia’s position as a leading technology adopter also makes this an important market for us. Access to a talented pool of skills in the region also makes Australia a strategically important base for us from which to expand.” 

Austrade will be introducing SoftIron to New South Wales Government stakeholders as it grows its business in the state. 

Australia’s national aims for sovereign resilience in IT infrastructure align well with the unique approach SoftIron is taking to designing and building its data centre products. 

COO Van der Schyff said that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased demand for leading-edge data infrastructure solutions, prompting the need to expand its operations to meet the demand.

“Being globally distributed has given us a remarkable level of resilience to world events over the last 18 months,” he said.

“With New South Wales opening up again, we can’t wait to get back to fully commissioning our new Sydney facility.” 

Source: Austrade Investor Updates

Eliza Sayon

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Eliza is a content producer and editor at Public Spectrum. She is an experienced writer on topics related to the government and to the public, as well as stories that uplift and improve the community.

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