ODATA, a carrier-neutral hyperscale data center operator headquartered in Brazil, has started a project to expand its facilities in Latin America. Founded in 2015, the company built its first data center outside of Brazil in Bogotá, Colombia, as part of an ambitious plan to address the growing needs for this type of service in the Latin American market.
Known as BG01, the ODATA data center is located 15 minutes from Bogotá, in the Metropolitan Free Zone, and is the largest in Colombia. This state-of-the-art facility, built at a cost of around USD 100 million, occupies an area of 6,000 m2 built on three floors and a white area with six rooms in which it has the capacity to house more than 1,000 racks. This data center will serve as a model for the company's future expansion plans in the region.
Introduction
The BG01 data center is a building the size of a football field. Due to its large size, with three stories, the facility required tight security checks for employees, contractors and visitors.
ODATA Data Center
Designed with the strictest quality and safety standards, the BG01 data center is TIER III certified, which means it was designed with dual-powered and redundant components (including servers, storage, network links and others) to ensure uninterrupted operations. The building is also highly energy efficient: 1.5 PUE, flexible power density up to 13 kVA/rack, and a high degree of carrier-independent connectivity (Carrier neutral).
To ensure uninterrupted service and boost efficiency, the data center incorporated various building management systems, including generators, air conditioners, and an overall building management system. And, like all data centers, the BG01 facility had to meet strict requirements for network security and encrypted communication protocols. To prevent unauthorized access to the facility and to protect the data stored there, the BG01 data center implemented a complete video and integrated access control system.The challenges
Arguably, the security needs of the BG01 data center are both rigorous and complex, as this type of facility requires multiple layers of security to strictly restrict and manage employee and contractor access.
The BG01 data center required a comprehensive building management system that would provide the facility manager with the ability to monitor and manage all building functions (HVAC, lighting, and elevator controls) from a central location or mobile device. Additionally, the building management system needed to be able to easily integrate with the security system, which included access control, video, fire alarm, and fire suppression system.
It was also of the utmost importance that each implemented system had cybersecurity protection against internal and external cyber threats and attacks. The goal of BG01 was not only to protect data within the facility, but also its customers, IT infrastructure and external network.
The solution
Due to its diverse portfolio of scalable video and access control solutions with cybersecurity protection, Tyco was the ideal technology partner for ODATA.
“ODATA is always looking for the best technology available,” said Fabio Cortés, ODATA Engineering Manager, at BG01. “After analyzing the different solutions on the market and looking at the cost-benefit-support ratio, we chose to hire Tyco to manage the entire data center security portfolio.”
When it came time to build the ODATA BG01 data center, one of the most important aspects of the project was finding an integrator that had the ability to install and integrate all of the building's systems. The company chose UPSISTEMAS, a local contractor with more than 30 years of experience providing integrated infrastructure and security solutions.
Integrator UPSISTEMAS was commissioned to install the C•CURE 9000 security and event management system, an enterprise-grade dynamic access control system that monitors events, manages personnel, creates reports and provides a central location for viewing video and manage visitors, either through a personal computer or a mobile application. The system allows BG01 to easily manage access permissions for both employees and visitors, and to verify and respond to significant incidents.
An important benefit of the C•CURE 9000 system is that it is part of Tyco's Cyber Protection Program and meets the company's rigorous cybersecurity guidelines. This begins with the product development phase and continues throughout the entire solution lifecycle. A rapid response team monitors and quickly responds to cybersecurity threats should they occur.
In addition, the type of credentials chosen by BG01 also gives you an additional level of security, since it uses highly encrypted cards and readers that comply with OSDP (Open Supervised Device Protocol). OSDP is a well-known access control protocol designed to improve interoperability between access control devices.
Communications between the controller and the server are encrypted using the advanced encryption standard AES 256. For the most critical areas of the building, BG01 requires employees and contractors to use multi-factor authentication, a process that combines smart card readers with Suprema readers' biometric fingerprint technology to confirm a person's identity.
To visually monitor the facility, the data center implemented a robust video surveillance system made up of internal and external surveillance cameras. There are more than 99 Illustra Flex surveillance cameras in the facility, including the reception area, parking lots, corridors, elevators, and server rooms.
Each camera is monitored in real time through the exacqVision video management system (VMS), a scalable, intuitive and easy-to-use solution. Through the VMS, BG01 can pinpoint important videos to watch later or easily search an event timeline. Tamper protection protects exported video.
Two high-performance exacqVision Z-Series NVRs provide the data center with a high-capacity, scalable video storage solution. With 48 TB of storage and enterprise-grade licensing, the system supports more than 90 days of storage in each camera located in critical areas of the data center. The cameras feature failover, allowing automatic system recovery when a power or network failure occurs.
All of these solutions—including the fire detection and suppression system—are fully integrated with the C•CURE BMS platform, allowing for ongoing monitoring, maintenance, and programming of each system. This includes air conditioners, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), and generators. BG01 also leverages the BMS platform to collect data on energy consumption and key performance indicators to measure the company's effectiveness in achieving key business objectives.
Luis Enrique Bonilla, Latin America and Caribbean Business Development Manager for Tyco security solutions, part of Johnson Controls, worked closely with ODATA to plan and design their security and building management solution. In his opinion, the process was dynamic, as they added additional systems and capabilities as the project progressed.
“We continually review the design, including each piece of equipment and specific capabilities, such as camera resolution, and look for ways to improve each system to get the best results for the end user,” said Bonilla.
It was the ability to adapt and respond to the changing needs of the data center that made this relationship successful.
"Tyco has a robust platform that allows the integration of all systems in a natural and sustainable way over time and that supports the future growth of the data center," added Cortés, from BG01. "Tyco also has local support, which is essential considering the confidentiality of the information."
The client
Founded in May 2015, ODATA was created with the aim of offering companies a scalable, secure and flexible IT infrastructure in the region. Specializing in Colocation solutions, ODATA supports the growing demands for energy, space and security in all companies advancing in digital transformation processes.
The first ODATA data center was inaugurated in May 2017, after seven months of construction in Santana de Parnaíba, in São Paulo. With an area of 23,000 m2, the data center has its own energy substation with 20 MVA of installed power and is located near the main energy and telecommunications networks in the country, which connect various points in Brazil.
In parallel with its operations in Brazil, ODATA began its international expansion in Latin America with investments in Colombia, starting data center operations in 2019. In São Paulo, ODATA began construction of a new site on its DC SP02 campus. It will soon begin new expansion at its DC SP01 campus and has plans to develop two additional campuses in 2021. In Rio de Janeiro, the company will build a new data center and the first phase is expected to be operational in 2023. In Colombia, The possible construction of another campus in the country is also being considered. In Querétaro, Mexico, ODATA made an initial investment of more than USD 100 million to build a new data center.Construction began in January 2021, with the first phase expected to be complete by early 2022. Chile is high on ODATA's list of potential new markets, where a wholesale data center is being developed. ODATA's goal is to become the first choice in data center colocation services in Latin America.
Johnson Controls Building Technologies and Solutions
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