Andrew I did a bit more research and as you correctly pointed out, colocation companies like Equinix and NEXT don’t compete against the cloud companies. Customers outsource to colocation companies so that they don’t have to build their own data centres anymore and those data centres provide connectivity and services to the cloud companies. Colocation has boomed because of cloud computing is in every metric out there.
I don’t believe DXN is just a cheap and cheerful offering either. They just construct their data centres using a modular approach so that they don’t have to spend as much upfront like traditional data centres do and they get them built quickly. Needs to be noted that companies like Microsoft and Google have been building data centres like this for a long time so if anything, DXN is replicating what the cloud companies have been doing for a long time already.... so a smart move imo
See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Modular_Data_Center
Also, I am not as familiar with the ASD certification as perhaps you are, but just thinking about it logically, surely data stored in a rectangular secured steel box would be more secure than in large data halls in traditional DCs???
They also have two revenue streams when you read the prospectus. One is colocation, which they are building. The other is the sale of the data centre modules and consulting services. These guys will be quicker to revenue than NextDC were.
It’s all going to be in the execution with this one , I bought it as a long term hold and quite content parking my money with dxn
