Unprecedented partnership with private data centers expands storage for teaching and research institutions

One day after the launch of the Security Operations Center, RNP announced another new service for its System. The National Data Center (CND) promises to expand and improve the offering of hosting services thanks to an unprecedented partnership model with private data centers.

The partnership will guarantee the simplification of the management and operation of data centers for the RNP System. Institutions will have access to high-performance datacenters integrated into RNP's high-speed network, with large storage and security capacity.

“The CND will host the data produced in laboratories and observatories, which can be made widely available to the community”, explained the deputy director of services at RNP, Luiz Coelho. “We are building a new concept of equipment for community use. The group of teaching and research institutions will be able to make data available that will be shared by the entire community, with free access”. 

All datacenters are in Brazilian territory, preserving the secrecy and privacy of stored information and files, which guarantees national sovereignty over data. The CND should go into operation in November. The Center will be divided into three focal points: Brasília, São Paulo and Fortaleza. 

For Andrés Menéndez, coordinator of CGTIC (College of Communication Technology Managers) and IT superintendent at the Federal University of Sergipe (UFS), “it is an essential and urgent service”.

Also participating in the CND presentation panel were Alex Galhano, RNP Services coordinator, Rodrigo Azevedo, RNP services manager, and Débora Reis, RD&I coordinator and manager of the RNP e-Science Support Service.

eCiber Network

The last presentation of the day in Arena I of the RNP Forum was about the eCiber network, a high-speed infrastructure that is being implemented by RNP to serve the e-Science sector, which needs a high-performance structure for massive data transfers. With speeds of up to 100 Gb/s, the network will also be interconnected to the National Data Center (CND), to allow the storage of transmitted information.

The project is already in operation and serves three institutions: Senai Cimatec, LNCC and INPE. “It is still a project, but it is already underway, starting operations, with all institutions linked to the two networks, Ipê [Brazilian academic network] and e-Science”, explained Débora Reis, manager of the e-Science Support Service from RNP. 

With resources from the federal government's New PAC (Growth Acceleration Program), RNP will continue the development of eCiber. “We expect 12 institutions to join by 2026. It is something that is really starting, and we are maturing”, said Débora.

André Luis da Cunha Dantas Lima, manager of the Technological Area of HPC and Cloud, Networks & Cybersecurity at Senai Cimatec, presented data that attest to the need for such a network and storage solutions. According to him, in just one project, the daily data download is between 5 Gb and 30 Gb. “The volume of data brings us precisely this vision of how necessary a very high-speed network is”, he stated.