When it comes to protecting data centres, digital security is only half the battle, explains Boon Edam Australia managing director Michael Fisher...
The news that Melbourne is seeking to join Sydney as a hub for next-generation digital infrastructure highlights the emerging need in Victoria’s capital to join the trend to layered physical security of in-house and standalone data centres.
The robust new figures for Melbourne and the continuing strong performance from Sydney (aggregate supply rose by 16.4 per cent in the first half of 2025 to 5.2GW, with total live capacity of 757MW) underline the need in both cities for designers, builders and facility fitout managers to be vigilant to the physical needs of an increasingly huge industry.
This ongoing impetus has been given a further push by the recent announcement by the NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey that major projects worth more than $1 billion—including data centres and windfarms—will receive fast-tracked planning approval under a new authority aimed at speeding up major commercial investments in the State.
Across the Tasman, New Zealand is also positioning itself as a leader in sustainable digital infrastructure, with its latest Empowering Aotearoa New Zealand's Digital Future—Our National Data Centre Infrastructure report showing there are 56 operational data centres in NZ, totalling 104 deployable MW, with another 20 new centres already in planning. The report shows that “New Zealand’s total deployed data centre capacity is projected to grow to around 315 MW by 2030”.
Our direct experience as a global layered physical security provider to some of the biggest data centres on Earth tells us that the surge in demand will bring a renewed focus of physical security to safeguard government, corporate, IP, and personal data concentrated within a huge range of facilities, some of which are 20 times larger than facilities of just a few years ago.
And not only will the physical security push apply to Hyperscale and cloud data centres, but also to Enterprise facilities, Co-Located multi-tenant centres, plus Edge Data Centres, also known as Micro Data Centres, which provide data storage applications closer to where data is being generated and used.
To achieve security compliance—and the trust of users, legislators, financial data, IP and personal data owners—world trends suggest these facilities will increasingly be required not only to demonstrate high standards of digital security, but also that owners and operators have considered the other side of the security equation, physical security.
After all, digital security and physical security are different sides of the same security coin. You can’t have one without the other. The security equation fails if digital security is great, but the facility is exposed to unauthorised entry, sabotage, theft, or walk-in espionage.
Because there are countless ways in which data or systems can be compromised, there are also varied responses to physical security.
The leading revolving door and security entrance organisation I represent, Boon Edam, has introduced a layered approach to physical security for data centres globally, including the different types mentioned above.
Protect sensitive areas, ensuring that one person, the authorised person, enters the secure area, utilising technologies such digital identification, and elimination of tailgating and piggybacking access practices.
Maintain regulatory compliance, which is critical not only for facilities housing government data, but also as an important benefit of private businesses and service organisations. Important security compliance issues include Data Sovereignty Assurance which confirms that government data stays within Australian jurisdiction. Protection of health and personal data is an important focus of national security.
Reinforce compliance of physical security requirements affecting particular industries, including, for example, those observing PCI DSS provisions for restricted access to critical areas or facilities. The PCI DSS international standard applies to all organisations globally that use payment cards to facilitate payment. All Australian organisations that accept card payments are required to comply with the PCI DSS regardless of business size.
Reinforce physical security of CoLo centres which have emerged as a critical component of the infrastructure of modern businesses. This cloud service model is increasingly relevant in a digital landscape where efficiency, scalability, and both cybersecurity and physical security are paramount to protect the service hubs themselves.
Reduce guard labour cost of 24/7/365 operations data centre facilities in-house, where tailored combinations of entrances technologies—security revolving doors, security portals, and security speed gates, for example—can streamline strong access permissions and enable skilled personnel teams to be posted only where these costly resources are most needed.
Securing an entrance is vital for an effective risk mitigation strategy that involves keeping an intruder where they belong—outside.
Download Boon Edam’s white paper, “Best practices for data centre security and efficiency” for more insights into data centre security.
Michael Fisher is managing director of Boon Edam Australia, which is part of the privately owned international Royal Boon Edam group, which provides architectural revolving door and layered security solutions to some of the world’s largest companies, Fortune 500 companies, and companies in Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea including financial, data and telecommunications, Federal and State Government, hospitality, health and age care, logistics, retail, and distribution facilities. Boon Edam Australia operates under Master security licence number: 000104487.
