Internet traffic, despite being something present and everyday in people's lives, is not always known and recognised on a daily basis. When we turn on our televisions in the evening to watch our favourite series on streaming, we often don't imagine that this data has travelled thousands of kilometres around the world before reaching our homes.
Through the remote control, the content we choose travels through the poles of Internet providers, arrives at data centres and travels along submarine cables that connect Brazil and the world, and then makes its way back in a matter of milliseconds.
There are dozens of terabytes, from entertainment to the financial market, travelling along hundreds of connectivity routes all over the world.
In this context, Brazil is gaining increasing global importance, being one of the main data traffic exchange points in the Southern Hemisphere and one of the most important in the world. Fortaleza is a key player in this process. Despite the importance of the Southeast, especially São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, which are the main generators of data, the capital of Ceará is showing its leading role as the point of departure and arrival for international traffic.
As in the Second World War, the region, once called the elbow of the world, has a strategic position as the shortest point between Africa, Central America, North America and Europe. Today, Fortaleza, known as Brazil's Internet Hub, is home to 17 submarine cables and 13 of Brazil's most important data centres, some of them state-of-the-art, such as the Tier II certified AngoNAP, which is located in Praia do Futuro and receives two submarine cables that connect Brazil to the Americas, Europe and Africa and guarantee fast internet for the rest of the country.
This is due, for example, to its proximity to the European continent, some 6,000 kilometres away. But this number is increasing. At least four new data centres have already been announced for the next few years, representing growth of around 30%.
And it represents an unprecedented increase in capacity for data traffic in Brazil, which has the conditions to position itself as an A.I. powerhouse due to a very large market and an innovation ecosystem that is still little explored and under development, which has already been making a name for itself globally, the Internet of Things, which already has a developed sectoral innovation system with the capacity to generate and implement the necessary technologies, and Machine Learning, which has played a key role in Brazil's digital transformation.
The potential of data transmission has already been put to the test and has met global needs well. In March, military action by the Houthis (a military group linked to Iran that operates in Yemen) damaged at least four submarine cables in the Red Sea in the Middle East, interrupting data traffic between Europe and Asia, as well as causing an Internet blackout on the East Coast of Africa. The alternative was to redirect data traffic via other routes, passing through Brazil and the West Coast of Africa, to reach Asia via the Southern Hemisphere.
Today, Ceará is already Brazil's second biggest traffic exchange point, overtaking Rio de Janeiro and second only to São Paulo. But given the current scenario, there's a good chance that this lead will change in the near future. In addition, we are also witnessing growth in data generation in the Centre-West of Brazil, mainly driven by agribusiness, where technology is advancing in the countryside and producers are using connectivity to modernise their businesses.
Rafael Siqueira, Business Development Analyst
Source: https://jornalempresasenegocios.com.br/artigos/as-novas-rotas-de-trafego-de-dados-2/
