The Directors of NEXTDC Limited (ASX:NXT) ("the Company" or "NEXTDC") are pleased to announce that the Company has finalised recruitment of the Chief Operations Officer (COO) and the General Manager, Sales (GM Sales).

Mr Simon Cooper has been appointed as COO and Mr Nick Hillier as GM Sales. Both executives are expected to commence with NEXTDC in October 2011.

Mr Cooper will be responsible for all of NEXTDC’s technical capabilities including data centre development, facilities management, IT, security and technical operation functions. Prior to joining NEXTDC, Simon held leadership roles with Tata Communications, and prior to that was with Level 3 Communications, and Cable and Wireless. Simon brings extensive experience in managing large scale, complex and critical infrastructure projects globally.

The Company is also pleased to welcome Nick Hillier as GM Sales. Mr Hillier will manage sales and product development functions. He will lead NEXTDC’s national sales team across all market segments. Nick previously held senior sales management roles with Dell and Acer. At Dell, Nick held Director of Modular Data Centre and Multi Level Security role and was instrumental in developing Dell’s data centre capability in Australia.

“After a long search process I am delighted to appoint two high calibre executives who I believe will play a critical role in developing and growing NEXTDC’s data centre business. Both executives bring extensive local and international experience gained within very successful and world leading organisations”, said Bevan Slattery, CEO of NEXTDC.

As each of the NEXTDC facilities nears completion, the Company is focusing to establish the independent ecosystem within each facility and is continuing to build a national sales presence.

In addition to the Company’s announcement of network provider lineup for B1 on the 20th of June 2011, NEXTDC has today officially launched its “Cloud Seeding Program” targeting Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Application Service Providers (ASPs) and Managed Service Providers (MSPs) including Infrastructure-as-a-Service Providers (IAAS) or Software-as-a-Service Providers (SAAS) for both B1 and M1 facilities.

These providers will play critical role in creating NEXTDC’s independent ecosystem and provide a complete and flexible operational model to our customers.