Additionally, strong advances have been seen in the Latin American region. Google has promoted the development of submarine fiber optic lines Curie (which connects Chile with the United States), Monet (Brazil – United States), Junior (connecting the cities of Praia Grande and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil), and Tannath (which connects Brazil and Uruguay) to the coast of Las Toninas in Argentina, a 400-kilometre stretch, a task implemented by the firm Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN). The last section involves 6 fiber pairs, 4 of them are owned by Google and 2 by ANTEL (Uruguayan National Telecommunications Administration).
In addition to this, the bid for the installation of several data processing centers or also known as DC, “Data Centers” in English, has been evidenced in the region, negotiating tax exemptions or discounts on electricity rates.
In recent years, a large presence in Brazil has been achieved by Amazon with 3 DCs in São Paulo, and by Microsoft; the Azure Director at Microsoft Brazil, Joao Nunessaid: “The announcement reinforces Microsoft’s commitment to contribute to the growth of large, small and medium-sized companies and to accelerate digital innovation in the country, investing in local infrastructure and continually expanding and improving the services we provide to our customers.”
For his part, in Chilean territory, the president of Microsoft in that country, Brad Smithemphasized: “Just as railways, power plants, highways and airports helped Chile move into the future, data centers have become the cutting-edge infrastructure of the 21st century.”
In the case of Argentina, various intentions of CD installations by Amazon and Microsoft have been declared, but no concrete progress has yet been made to make them effective.
In this context, it is important to note that Argentina has a National ARSAT Data Center with Tier III international certification, similar to the one ANTEL has in Uruguay. This represents great advantages for these countries, since they have computing capacity and a certain sovereignty over the data stored there.
Additionally, both nations have fiber optic lines deployed throughout their territory, particularly in Argentina, the Federal Fiber Optic Network (REFEFO) was born in 2010 as part of the plan “Argentina Connected” to be able to bring Internet service to every corner of the country at a reasonable price; and in this way guarantee adequate connectivity and minimize the digital gap between urban centers and the most depopulated and historically forgotten areas.
In this sense, from its launch in 2010 until December 10, 2015, the civil works of the REFEFO were carried out, which reached 31,600 km; while during the Macri government only 2,849 km were incorporated.
At the moment, The official plan of the government of Alberto Fernández plans to build and illuminate another 4,000 km of fiber optics to reach 38,400 km of trunk network in 2023. The network has more than 34,500 km of fiber laid, which connects more than 1,000 locations throughout the country.
optical fiber
ARSAT
In December 2020, within the framework of the Connect Plan, the creation of a “national public cloud” was announced, which is self-managed and automated based on open source virtualization and orchestration technologies. In addition, a public consultation was carried out for the assembly of a state-of-the-art hybrid cloud in which several proposals were submitted by experts in the sector, such as the Free Software Cooperative – Gcoop.
Under this management and in order to strengthen the REFEFO, progress has been made in several agreements with provinces and municipalities. On June 8, 2021, a cooperation and collaboration framework agreement was signed between the Head of the Cabinet of Ministers, the Ministry of the Interior and the Argentine satellite solutions company ARSAT, to bring connectivity from REFEFO to 13 international crossings with neighboring countries. in border centers against Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. This will increase capacity, reduce latency, improve access and lower traffic costs significantly.
In December 2021, it was confirmed through a publication in the Official Gazette, Decree 860/2021, the financing by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in order to cooperate in the execution of the “Program for the Development of the Federal Fiber Optic Network (REFEFO)” for an amount of US$ 100 million. The Program will be developed through two components: Connectivity infrastructure and Capabilities and digital inclusion.
Last month, precisely on March 28, the current president of ARSAT met, Matias Tombolini, with Claudio Ambrosini, president of the National Communications Entity (ENACOM); the Minister of Government, Labor and Human Rights of Salta, Ricardo Villada; and technical teams, where they made the final adjustments for the arrival of REFEFO in the province. The President of the Chamber of Deputies, Serge Massaassured that: “Salta is the only capital in Argentina that does not have fiber optics. The decision of the ENACOM, ARSAT and the provincial government, is that jointly, as of March 28, they begin the exchange of agreements so that the people of Salta have their fiber optic network or their integration into the REFEFO, with financing national and provincial.
By virtue of all the above, the ARSAT company fulfills the role of a wholesale company, which brings high-speed and quality connectivity to the door of the town where it connects to a local provider (SME, cooperative, cable company, ISP), which is who performs the last mile work and provides the service to each of the residents of the place.
The satellite sector is another of the fundamental pillars of the company and that is why it has its Earth Station in Benavidez, which is used to control its geostationary satellites; and to incorporate redundancy in its operations, on February 21, an agreement was signed with the Minister of Economy and Energy of Mendoza, Enrique Vaquie, which will allow the construction of an Earth Station on the grounds of the Palmira Services and Industries Park (Pasip), belonging to the Department of San Martín. This fact implies an investment that exceeds $10 million and will make Palmira an attractive hub for service companies linked to the knowledge economy.
Additionally, on March 30, Matias Tomboliniannounced that “Arsat will make an investment of US$ 70 million with local and international financing, and that means a redundant data center of the existing one in Benavidez”, as well as another earth station and other activities that will employ at least 200 workers. Tombolini added that the DC of Bariloche is one of the “regional centers that Arsat plans to build in other parts of the country” and that “It has to do with federalizing content management and being able to bring resources closer to regional economies”. Subsequently, on April 1, the members of the ARSAT Supervisory Commission visited INVAP, CEATSA and toured the recently inaugurated Bariloche Technological Park (Pitba).
On April 5, together with the visit of the Chilean president, Gabriel BoricTombolini stated that “This visit opens the possibility of deepening ties with a sister country like Chile” and I add “As far as ARSAT is concerned, work on the possibility of cooperating in the development of the satellite and transoceanic cable industry”.
ALBERTO FERNANDEZ AND GABRIEL BORIC.jpeg
Presidency of the Nation
In these times, we see an opportunity to strongly encourage the use of the services provided by the ARSAT DC. In this sense, we believe that the national State should function as a guide for the other agencies and provincial states, establishing the basic principles on the use of the services provided by the data center and how to join this public cloud, through cooperation agreements that encourage the sharing and reasonable use of data without neglecting privacy.
These new tools also enhance the sector linked to the knowledge economy, generating quality jobs and products or services with great added value. Added to this, The articulation between the different ministries allows the creation of training programs, workshops and internships for young people, guaranteeing a source of employment in the short term and promoting the growth of new companies for this Era.
Combining these technologies together with the penetration, capacity increases and capillarity of the REFEFO, it is possible to contribute and accompany regional development, promoting and promoting the articulation with other sectors, facilitating the use of these services to SMEs, Cooperatives, social organizations, unions, Universities, National, Provincial and Municipal State.
The pandemic has shown that the companies, regions and countries with the greatest investment in information and communication technologies have been able to adapt more easily. And that is why we wonder What would be the best way to tackle this great challenge that this new revolution has in store for us? Could an empowerment scheme be proposed to promote the development of new technologies linking SMEs, Cooperatives, Universities, social organizations, government entities in an articulated manner? From the Observatory of Energy, Science and Technology (OECYT) we believe so.
Telecommunications Engineer and Master in Engineering Sciences (UNRC). Director of the Energy, Science and Technology Observatory (OECYT) associated with the People and Science platform.
Source: Ambito
