WebProNews

With a data center here and a data center there, Google's covered most of the globe except for Greenland, Africa, and Australia.  Now, although nothing's certain yet, that last gap may get closed.

According to Fran Foo's unnamed sources, "Google has quietly dispatched a team of experts from the US on a fact-finding mission to decide whether it should establish a data centre in Australia.  In the past few weeks the team of about five Google US employees had been involved in high-level discussions with local data centre providers."

 Simon Tusha

Foo goes on to note that Simon Tusha, who describes himself as a "strategic negotiator" and "Google's Duke of Data Centers," is supposedly part of the team.  We're not sure whether that helps or hurts.

Other possible problems aren't too hard to dismiss, though.  On the subject of fiscal responsibility, Patrick Pichette, Google's CFO, explained on the company's third quarter conference call that international expansions will continue.  Sergey Brin mentioned the energy efficiency of Google's data centers at the same time.

Plus, Foo adds, "A local data centre could open the door to more government business. . . .  It could also help convince enterprises that Gmail is a viable email platform alongside leaders Microsoft Outlook/Exchange and Lotus Notes."

Keep an eye out for formal announcements, then, and if you happen to live in Australia, it might not be a bad idea to update your resume, as well.