Air New Zealand’s chief information officer could be following in ex-CIO Rob Fyfe’s footsteps by moving into the big seat. The huge Amazon data centre build in Auckland is as large as four rugby fields - but more abandoned than Eden Park on a rainy Blues game day. Chorus is
Air NZ tech boss tipped for top job, Amazon’s huge Auckland construction site silent, Chorus’ multi-billion rural grab, more DIA cuts - Tech Insider
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Could Air NZ's chief digital officer Nikhil Ravishankar be in line for the top job? Photo / Supplied
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Chief digital officer Nikhil Ravishankar has the inside running to replace the outgoing Greg Foran as chief executive, according to a report by The Australian.
Ravishankar was formerly Vector’s chief digital officer and a longtime member of AUT’s AUTEUR Influencer Network.
He was most recently in the news as Air NZ inked a deal with Elon Musk’s Starlink for better inflight Wi-Fi.
He has been approached for comment.
All quiet on the Western front
Following tradie chatter that work had ground to a halt at on Amazon’s data centre build in West Auckland, Tech Insider visited the site around 2.30pm yesterday.
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The limited amount of machinery was idle. Only two people were immediately visible on the site: a security guard and a staffer from contractor Naylor Love, which is carrying out the build.
There appeared to be very limited progress since the Herald last visited in February, with ground levelling and foundation work only. There are also some cabins on the site.
The Naylor Love staffer said: “We’re under NDA [a non-disclosure agreement]. We can’t comment.”
Campbell Barbour, general manager of NZ Retail Property Group, which has been developing Westgate – the western side of which has become something of a tech hub with a Telsa facility under construction, huge Microsoft and DCI data centres (both finished) and now Amazon – told Tech Insider: “We have not been involved with the AWS site and despite noticing in passing that progress seems to have slowed aren’t able to shed any light.”
The tech giant earlier said its new Amazon Web Services (AWS) Auckland data centre zone would be open by the end of this year (itself a revised deadline after drainage issues raised by Auckland Council delayed final resource consent).
In May, an Amazon spokeswoman laughed off an industry rumour that the firm was abandoning the build in response to US President Donald Trump’s on-shoring push.
Today, the Amazon spokeswoman said: “We’re super excited. We’re on track for a launch later this year.”
She would not address the apparent lack of day-to-day activity on the site.
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In other territories, AWS has been able to open a local zone by utilising data centres run by some-time partners such as DCI and CDC.
The Amazon spokeswoman would not say if that would be the case here for the initial Auckland launch, while the tech giant waited for its own facility to be completed.
DCI and CDC could also be the vehicles for providing Amazon (and Microsoft) with a multi-data centre setup on top of their single Westgate facilities.
In keeping with its standard security policy, Amazon will not confirm the location of the data centre – despite it appearing on various public records, and in marketing material on NZRPG’s website (see a high-resolution version of its Westgate master plan, featuring the AWS data centre, here).
In the latest of a series of land deals, dated December 16 last year, the Overseas Investment Office (OIO) gave Amazon permission to buy the 0.2ha 77 Fred Taylor Drive in northwest Auckland (that is, on the edge of Westgate) for a confidential sum. A change of land title went through on January 14.
Property records show Amazon has now acquired three parcels of adjoining land totalling 41,774 square metres, or 4.18 hectares – that’s the size of four rugby fields.
$250m-$350m consideration
That followed a March 2022 decision in which the OIO gave Amazon the green light to acquire land at an undisclosed location for the “establishment of a business, being a cluster of data centres in Auckland ... Consideration [price]: Between $250,000,000 and $350,000,000″.
The location of the land was not listed, but property records show a few months later, Amazon bought 73 Fred Taylor Drive (a 26,411sq m property) and 75 Fred Taylor Drive (13,345sq m) – now followed by the top-up purchase of the smaller number 77.
In a fourth property deal, approved by the OIO in September last year, Amazon bought a 500sq m block of land – likely in Warkworth – for a ground station for Project Kuiper, its coming satellite communications network that will compete with Elon Musk’s Starlink.
On June 14, Amazon said it would invest A$20 billion by 2029 to expand its data centre infrastructure in Australia.
Here, Amazon earlier said it would spend just over a third of that over 10 years – but it’s not immediately clear how it would get to that sum given its build is similar in scale to Microsoft’s, which cost around $1b.
Amazon first announced its plans for an Auckland data centre zone in 2021 (like Microsoft, the firm held meetings with then-Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern about investment in NZ), saying it would spend $7.5b on the project over 10 years (for land, construction, staff, services and hardware) and create 1000 jobs, including those for the construction phase (data centres are highly automated once up-and-running).
The firm says the local “Region” (as it calls a cluster of at least three independently powered data centres) will boost performance of its AWS cloud and AI services, with early customers including One NZ, Vector and Datacom (which also maintains its own data centres).
Amazon’s Westgate site is similar in size to the Microsoft facility now open a block over – where costs were put at $1.06b (read a breakdown here).
But it’s still smaller than the combined footprint of CDC’s twin data centres in Silverdale and nearby Hobsonville – where half-owner Infratil put the initial build cost at $300 million before recent expansions that have included a doubling of the Hobsonville site – or DCI’s second facility, in Albany, which is easily the largest announced so far; its 5.8ha site will house more than 80,000 servers.
Unlike Amazon and Microsoft, DCI has been happy to reveal the location of its smaller, now-operational Westgate site (its address and photos feature on its website) and its still under-construction Albany site, which it said would cost $400m (including $68m for the land; DCI said it would spend a total of around $600m including Westgate, providing more than 50 megawatts of capacity).
Auckland Council has been approached for comment.
Chorus makes another push for rural fibre
Chorus first touted a $2.5b, 10-year plan to expand fibre into rural areas in May last year. Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith said he would take a look, but money was tight. And the minister – who ultimately had no concrete response - likely also had an eye on the 37,000-plus rural Kiwis who’ve gone DIY with Starlink dishes for satellite broadband.
Now the firm says it has a foot in the door through the Government’s new infrastructure push.
“The Infrastructure Commission, Te Waihanga, has endorsed the opportunity to expand fibre coverage from 87% to 95% of New Zealand, recognising rural connectivity as a national infrastructure priority,” Chorus said in a statement to the Herald.
“Ours is one of just 17 endorsed, out of 50 proposals submitted; and the only one led by the private sector.
“The $2.5-$3b fibre extension would reach 160,000 additional premises across 1000 communities, unlocking over $17b in economic value.”
Chorus chief executive Mark Aue says the urban UFB (Ultrafast Broadband) fibre rollout was a model public-private partnership – with Chorus now paying back Crown funds (albeit funds provided at low or no interest).
Fibre offers better resistance and performance than alternative technologies, Aue says, and work could begin in months – and be broken into stages, if necessary. Rural NZ would be left behind without it.
The Infrastructure Commission’s assessment also highlighted a critical policy gap: the absence of a rural communications strategy, Chorus says – and that, perversely, this counted against the NZX-listed firm.
“Our proposal was marked down for not aligning with a strategy that doesn’t exist,” Aue says.
“We urge the Government to develop a comprehensive rural connectivity strategy to guide investment and ensure digital infrastructure is fully integrated into national planning.”
Goldsmith did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Manager digital violent extremism cut in latest DIA cull
The Department of Internal Affairs told staff yesterday that it is axing another 46 jobs, with another 14 under threat, according to the Public Service Association.
The union claims the cuts “will ramp up workload on remaining staff and put New Zealanders at risk”.
The changes confirmed to staff at briefings on Tuesday will see many roles merged, such as the Manager Digital Violent Extremism being merged with a Manager Digital Messaging and Systems, says PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons.
“Expecting one manager to do the work of two, especially at a time when the risk of violent extremism is escalating, is dangerous and makes no sense,” Fitzsimons says.
The DIA declined to comment. Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a statement earlier this week, DIA secretary Paul James said: “We’ll continue to look for ways to improve how we work and save money, while still delivering for the people, communities and Ministers we serve. Once this change process is finished, I am not expecting further organisation-wide change of this scale.”
Consultation would run through to July 14, James said.
The PSA called an earlier cull of 76 DIA roles, including 22 jobs across the digital safety and anti-money laundering groups, “reckless” and claimed they would expose Kiwis to sexual abuse material, scammers, and violent extremist content.
Van Velden said many of the roles were vacant positions that would not be filled.
“The teams have delivered their service without the need for additional capacity,” she said.
Earlier this month van Velden said there had been a big drop in scam texts following a DIA crackdown.
Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.
