Latin America. We continually see data centers, hosting and cloud becoming more relevant in the business sector due to the investment of new multinational and national companies. A recent report, GlobalData predicts that the Latin American market for cloud computing services will expand at a compound annual rate of 22.4% between 2020 and 2023.
According to Eng. Mario Sandoval, project director of Sandoval Asociados: "During the last years some datacenters have been established in Colombia, the vast majority for the companies' own use, while with the objective of co-location they have been scarce. Since 2009, we have begun to build data centers in the country in order to potentiate intelligent construction and to strengthen and contribute to the growth of the technological offer. In Colombia, we have had investments of more than US$25 million in this type of infrastructure, such as the HostDime data center, the largest in Latin America, and BT, which is certified in Tier V."
These infrastructures have a relevant influence on the development of the digital age. Some of the determining factors for large companies to choose to build their own data centers have been their impact on increasing productivity to accelerate the growth of new businesses, the generation of new opportunities that allow influencing the quality of life of people and their operational efficiency.
According to the Datacenter Map platform, there are 103 co-location data centers in South America and 33 in Central America, of which Brazil represents the vast majority (49), while Argentina, Chile and Mexico have respectively 14, 11 and 10.
In Colombia, the imminent needs of communications companies, content generators and service providers, have allowed the country to develop skills to focus on the construction of these infrastructures and provide through a cutting-edge work greater connectivity, good functioning and maximum efficiency.
The construction process
These buildings, which offer advanced technologies and services, include a high-detail planning phase with designs, construction and installation of specialized systems that allow the integral operation of the infrastructure. The needs and requirements of these projects exceed those of any type of building, because they must operate continuously.
In the initial design, the capacity and scope of the data center must be established, as well as according to its infrastructure define the white areas or rack area, which are airtight spaces with controlled temperature. Once the data platform has been defined, the dimension that will occupy the entire project is determined.
This type of construction uses two continuous sources of energy, that of the local company and a generation system with high redundancy (generator set) that guarantees stability in operation and cooling for the mission-critical platform. In addition to that, to guarantee the operation and efficiency of these spaces, all the necessary conditions must be met that include different aspects: security, air conditioning, lighting, continuous energy sources, among others.
And finally, high sensitivity requirements must be taken into account both in its design and technical execution, which includes internal security, with a system of access control doors with 5 security rings to access the white areas, according to the TIER IV standard. As well as, the fire extinguishing networks and the fuel storage system for electricity generation, which must be taken into account for their environmental impacts.
"A data center must be a robust civil work, which needs for its development all the technical capabilities in management and coordination, both in design and construction of the infrastructure. It must meet the expectations of eco-environmental efficiency, connectivity and reach," the expert added.
Growth expectation
There is great expectation in the market due to its sustained growth. Having infrastructures with high technologies to strengthen communication networks and competitiveness in the country is a clear need for national and international companies, which identify that Colombia is able to develop these buildings with all international standards and certifications.
"The Latin American market for data services is expected to expand at a compound annual rate of more than 20% until 2023 and with the implementation of new datacenters connectivity in the country will be improved, since companies and users in different geographical locations will be able to access more quickly and efficiently the instant sending of information and their interaction with it," Concluded Sandoval.
In addition to that, the construction sector will bet with a technological and holistic vision on the creation of smart cities or cities of the future that through the construction of datacenters will guarantee the protection of vulnerable information, anticipation of cyber attacks and technological support to sectors such as: banking, insurance, education, Internet providers, etc.
