Equinix Opens Second Rio de Janeiro Data Center

Equinix said today that its ALOG Data Centers unit in Brazil has opened a second International Business Exchange (IBX) data center in Rio de Janeiro. Equinix said the new RJ2 facility will enable it to meet strong customer demand in the fast-growing Brazilian market.

The new Rio de Janeiro data center has capacity for 320 cabinets in the first phase and will grow to 1,170 cabinets in two additional phases. It's the first Tier III-certified data center in the city.

Brazil is expected to see an increase in data traffic as it prepares to host the 2015 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics. A recent TeleGeography study found demand for bandwidth from the US to Latin America grew 70 percent per year from 2007 through 2012, while growth on the trans-Atlantic route has increased at a 36 percent annual rate. Telcos have kept up with increasing bandwidth demand by laying new cables and upgrading existing systems, deploying more than 54Tbps of new capacity between 2007 and 2013.

Brazil A Strategic Growth Market for Equinix

"Brazil continues to be of great strategic importance to Equinix and our global customers looking to access the Latin American market to capitalize on the abundance of growth opportunities it presents," said Charles Meyers, chief operating officer of Equinix. "The RJ2 facility in Rio is the latest in our ever-expanding global footprint of IBX data centers built to the highest of industry standards."

"In order to fully capitalize on the upcoming world events in Brazil, companies around the world must have local presence that encompasses top-notch IT infrastructure," said Eduardo Carvalho, managing director, ALOG. "We’ve seen excellent traction in the financial services sector and the networking and content industries amongst multinational customers, and are well positioned to house and serve all verticals with this new facility."

Last December Equinix opened MI3, a new data center in Boca Raton, Florida to serve as a key hub for domestic and international routes. Adjacent to several landing stations, the MI3 facility offers the lowest latency route to Brazil via GlobeNet, according to Equinix.

The RJ2 data center features a state-of-the-art rain water harvesting system that will help reduce water consumption by at least 70 percent and power consumption by 10 percent.