Digital infrastructure company Equinix has announced the construction of a second data centre in Barcelona, and with which it intends to improve connectivity in the Mediterranean. The American company says that the capital of Catalonia is becoming increasingly strategic for underwater and underground cable networks, and wants to take the opportunity to create a strategic connection point for data communications between Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

The fact is that numerous subsea cables from different origins already converge in Barcelona or are expected to do so in the future. Among them is 2Africa, which connects the coastal markets of North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula; the Europe-Middle East-India Aqua Comms cable; Sipartech’s Medloop, which is connected to Ajaccio, Genova and Marseille; and Medusa, which links Barcelona with Lisbon and other significant Mediterranean, European and African markets.

Renewable energy
Equinix has a platform with more than 245 data centres. Its second centre in Barcelona, known as the BA2 International Business Exchange, will be located next to B1 and will contribute digital capacity to both local companies wanting to expand and grow, and international companies wanting to set up in the region. Data centres consume a lot of electricity, and the company wants to use 100% renewable energy as part of its objective of being climate neutral by 2030, which is why it will be built with a design capable of obtaining Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification.

The vice president of Equinix, Jim Poole, is convinced of the fundamental role of subsea cables and expects healthy growth after the stoppage caused by the pandemic. This infrastructure, he said, "will provide the underlying capacity between markets on different continents, and at the same time Equinix will democratise that capacity, making it easily accessible to a wide range of companies and enabling rapid international expansion without the need for significant capex investment".

First customer
The B2's first customer - Colt Technology Services - has already confirmed the collaboration. Colt’s country manager for Spain, Joan Monraba, said the data centre will put it in a good position to “manage the next wave of corporate growth”, adding that, “As long-standing partners, Colt and Equinix are transforming the enterprise experience of procuring digital and network services with agile and flexible on-demand provisioning”.

Equinix’s vice president of global managed services, Ignacio Velilla, also said that his company is “an established connectivity leader in Barcelona and that it is making further investments to meet the heavy rate of demand in the Mediterranean market. The new BA2 data centre, added to our existing capacity in BA1, will enable us to improve the interconnected campuses and the digital ecosystems hosted within them”.

New data centre in Valencia
Another industry company, the Mexican firm Kio Networks, has announced it will be building the autonomous region’s largest data centre in Paterna (Valencia). “Ours will be the first data centre in Spain to use 100% green coolants and geothermal sources for critical cooling. We are aware of climate change and want to help to improve things”, it explains on its LinkedIn page.

Information published by the Government of Valencia and shared by the company shows an investment of 50 million euros. The building with have 1,000 square metres of IT rooms certified to the Tier IV security level, the highest international standard. Once it is up and running, it will provide 35 jobs for highly qualified staff.

^{Photo: Equinix}