NEWS
Telecommunications and data centres recognised as critical national infrastructure in Australia
acquarie Telecom Group , an
M Australian telecommunications company , has welcomed an
amendment to a government bill that recognises telecommunications and data centres as critical national infrastructure for the first time .
The publication of the Security Legislation Amendment ( Critical Infrastructure ) Bill , introduced to Parliament by Minister for Home Affairs , the Hon . Peter Dutton MP , recognises the importance of the sectors in light of the COVID-19 pandemic .
“ The COVID-19 pandemic and sudden lockdowns have highlighted the economy ’ s dependence on telecommunications and data services , and Australians ’ expectation that these services will be accessible even in the worst of circumstances ," said David Tudehope , CEO , Macquarie Telecom Group . “ But the lockdowns also highlighted that these industries were not actually officially recognised as being essential or critical to the functioning of society .
“ This new legislation will rectify this as it recognises the infrastructure that enables our digital economy to function as critical infrastructure that needs to be secured from all hazards just as our water , energy and other vital national assets are .”
Macquarie believes the legislation will help ensure the resilience and security of Australia ’ s digital and physical infrastructure in the face of growing risks . The company believes this is a shared responsibility , with government providing the leadership and intel needed to guide critical infrastructure owners and operators .
Amazon becomes world ’ s largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy
mazon has announced
A 26 new utility-scale wind and solar energy projects
totalling 3.4 GW of electricity production capacity , bringing its total investment in renewable energy in 2020 to 35 projects and more than 4 GW of capacity – the largest corporate investment in renewable energy in a single year .
These new projects will make Amazon the largest-ever corporate purchaser of renewable energy .
Amazon has now invested in 6.5 GW of wind and solar projects that will enable the company to supply its operations with more than 18 million megawatt hours ( MWh ) of renewable energy annually . This is enough to power 1.7 million US homes for one year . These projects will supply renewable energy for Amazon ’ s corporate offices , fulfilment centres and Amazon Web Services ( AWS ) data centres that support millions of customers globally . They will also help advance Amazon ’ s goal to reach net-zero carbon emissions across its business by 2040 . Part of that commitment is powering Amazon ’ s infrastructure with 100 % renewable energy and the company is now on a path to achieve this milestone by 2025 , five years ahead of the initial 2030 target .
“ Amazon is helping fight climate change by moving quickly to power our businesses with renewable energy ,” said Jeff Bezos , Amazon Founder and CEO . “ With a total of 127 solar and wind projects , Amazon is now the biggest corporate buyer of renewable energy ever . We are on a path to running 100 % of our business on renewable energy by 2025 – five years ahead of our original target of 2030 .”
10 www . intelligentdatacentres . com