Donde reside internet

Donde reside internet

The connection centers play a fundamental role in the visualization of digital contents

There may be few things more exasperating for any user than trying to watch a video on the internet, and that it takes a while to load, that it pauses every few seconds or that the image becomes pixelated and loses its sharpness.

So that when observing this content on any device (PC, mobile or television) and that comes from the Internet is done with quality, several factors intervene. One of them, perhaps the least known, is that of "neutral" data centers: large computer factories through which information circulates and which allow improving the user experience.

In computer data networks 'latency' is the sum of the time delays within a network. That is, the time that passes between the content is sent from one point and reaches another network. The lower this time, the lower the latency and the better the network and the quality of the experience.

These neutral data centers play a key role in low latency. For example, Wifi Sancti Petri, a company dedicated to offering Wi-Fi and mobile telephony connections in isolated areas of Conil and Chiclana (Cádiz), claims to have lowered the latency from 40 to 10 milliseconds after connecting to these interconnection services.

Something that has caused a considerable increase in the number of content visualizations such as HBO or YouTube among users in these beach areas, very popular in summer, when its population increases significantly.

"Internet traffic passes through us," says Robert Assink, responsible for the general and strategic direction of Interxion in Spain. "If you watch a YouTube video, make a financial transaction with a bank or connect to the social network or cloud computing, all that traffic passes through our data center (CPD)."

Large companies usually have their own data center, where they keep their information and from which they offer their services. To get an idea, these CPDs are like big industrial ships full of servers, connection cables and hard disks.

But then there are other companies, such as Interxion, Itconic or Interoute that offer their CPD as neutral facilities. The neutral CPDs sell these services of computing, storage and interconnection to other companies. Thus, they rent part of the resources of these neutral CPDs to improve the quality of their services.

"Our facilities are like a large international airport, which offers its facilities so that different airlines can use their resources to connect different points and offer a better service to their users. Our CPDs are an infrastructure shared by all telecommunications operators, "explains Assink.

The company currently has two CPDs in Madrid and is in full construction of a third, which is expected to be fully operational in the second quarter of next year. A work that entails an investment of 44 million euros in a space of 6,000 square meters.

This new installation will double the number of servers it currently has (up to 80,000) and the computing and transmission power it offers.

To get an idea, a CPD of these characteristics consumes as much electrical power as a city of about 150,000 inhabitants.

Just around the corner

But Interxion is not the only company that is investing heavily in Madrid as a point of interconnection between what the cloud and the end user call.

These CPDs are essential for Internet services to reach all users with good quality. "The digital content has to be close to the end user physically so that there are no delays and the experience is good," explains Robert Assink. "Content must always be available in milliseconds."

Hence, these distribution networks are so important, and that what they call 'cloud' or 'cloud', in reality, is closer to our houses spatially than we think. "It takes more computing and interconnection capacity, it really does not matter where the data is," clarifies this responsible.

In all major European capitals there are these facilities, but in recent months, and in the coming years, it is expected that Madrid will concentrate much of the investment of this type of neutral CPD resources.

A sector that, although it has about 25 years of life (since the liberation of the telecommunications sector in Europe), is since 2010 when it has experienced significant growth.

Large European cities such as Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Paris have so far consolidated much of the construction of these neutral centers.

Madrid, on the other hand, represented one tenth of these investments. But now Spain is in full growth, which could mean that in the next few years the market will double and even triple.

From Interxion they assure that the intention and expectation is that investments and resources in Madrid grow more than in other places, taking advantage of the fact that these first neutral CPDs already exist.

Returning to the simile of airplanes, Robert Assink clarifies that it is easier to build another runway in Barajas than to build a new airport. "That's why Madrid will grow," he says.