Spanish Bank Santander Launches First Data Center in Brazil

Spanish banking group Banco Santander has unveiled a data center in Brazil’s Campinas, its first in the South American country.

The technology center, built 60 miles way from São Paulo, has reportedly cost the company $493 million. This is said to be the first Latin America data center to receive Tier-4 certification from the Uptime Institute. Santander stated that the data center complies with the international standard and has extensive server space.

Banco Santander, which has wide operation across Latin America, runs similar data center in Mexico. It grew larger after it bought 70 percent stake in the United States’ Sovereign Bancorp at the height of recession caused by the housing crisis.

Today it is the third largest private bank in Brazil. Santander will soon move all its data to the new data center in the South American country.

According to Latin American Herald Tribune, the facility has a power station that can generate 50,000 KW, or enough electricity to supply a city of 200,000, as well as six modern information technology wings.

“Brazil is a very competitive market and we need to have the latest technology to keep pace with our competitors,” stated Jesús Zabalza, President of Santander Brazil.

The bank said the infrastructure also supports the private cloud model to provide greater agility and reduce costs.

The Spanish bank said that proximity to its headquarters in Sao Paulo and Campinas‘ strong energy and telecom infrastructure persuaded it to set up the data center there, said the Spanish bank.