NZ Microsoft Data Center

Daniel Goymer • October 31, 2024

New Zealand’s first hyperscale data centre is set to open in 2024, marking a major milestone in the country’s digital landscape.


First announced in 2020, this ambitious project once seemed like a distant vision. Now, it’s becoming a reality, connecting New Zealand to a global network of over 200 data centres, 190 points of presence, and 175,000 miles of terrestrial and subsea fibre. This expansion will offer significant advantages for local businesses, enhancing connectivity and opening up new opportunities.


A local data centre can significantly improve data security and compliance, enabling businesses to meet local data residency requirements and adhere to the new Privacy Act. This is especially important for companies that handle sensitive customer information. Additionally, Microsoft’s new cloud services align with the growing emphasis on Māori data sovereignty. The data centre ensures that data remains within Aotearoa New Zealand’s borders, which is a crucial step in protecting Māori knowledge, culture, and data from foreign jurisdiction or governance.


It will also provide access to Microsoft’s cloud services, including Azure, Microsoft 365, and Dynamics 365, offering scalable, highly available, and resilient solutions that can enhance business operations. Local data storage means reduced latency and faster access to data, leading to improved performance and reliability.


This hyperscale data centre is more than just an infrastructure upgrade—Microsoft’s local presence will unlock new opportunities for innovation and growth, shaping the future of New Zealand’s digital economy.


While the transition from Australia to a local data centre may not happen overnight for all businesses, it's a development worth considering. If you’d like to learn more or have any questions, feel free to reach out.

Recent Posts

From small town to big security, with the ASD Essential 8

May 29, 2025
Cybercrime is on the rise in New Zealand, with CERT NZ recording $6.8M in reported financial losses in Q4 2024 alone. For small-town businesses, the stakes are even higher. That’s why we have adopted the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) Essential 8 framework to enhance its cybersecurity practices.

MCI & Associates and Yorb: A journey from support to strategy

April 10, 2025
MCI & Associates is an accountancy firm with over 45 employees across offices in Dannevirke and Pahiatua. The practice services a diverse range of clients, including those in the farming and commercial sectors, and its core services include tax preparation, business advisory and planning, and general accounting. The relationship between Yorb and MCI goes back over three decades to when both companies were in their formative stages. The trust-based relationship has endured and evolved as each business has grown and matured - going through name and ownership changes.

Cyber security in small-town NZ: why it’s time to pay attention

March 26, 2025
If you think cybercriminals only go after big corporations in major cities, think again.  The majority of incidents recorded by the NCSC impact individuals and small to medium businesses, proving that cyber threats don’t discriminate based on location - they target opportunity. With over 23,000 reports to the Netsafe helpline, and $17.8M in losses reported last year, small-town businesses are very much in the spotlight. In the past few months alone, three local accounting firms in regional New Zealand have suffered a data breach,and local ISP - Inspire was recently the target of a malicious cyber attack.