IBM will invest more than $80 million into the construction of a state-of-the-art data center in Auckland, reflecting the increasing importance of Software as a Service and cloud computing.The data center will be located at Highbrook Business Park in East Tamaki. The 5200 square metre facility will include a 1500 square metre data center. It is expected to become fully operational by late 2010 and will be the only commercially available data center of its calibre in New Zealand. The data center will be cloud computing-enabled and built using green and energy efficient technologies. Jennifer Moxon, Managing Director of IBM New Zealand says the data center is a significant investment in New Zealand’s future technological infrastructure. “It is the result of long term strategic planning and signals IBM’s commitment to enable New Zealand to become a world class technology centre and advances the growth of the digital economy.” Brett O’Riley, Chief Executive Officer, NZICT Group, says the new facility is core infrastructure for the 21st century digital economy that the Government and ICT industry are mutually striving to develop. “It heralds the explosion of Software as a Service and cloud-enabled computing which will drive a step change in productivity and innovation, while its design establishes the benchmark for green ICT in this country."