Santander to have technological center
Valor Econômico
Santander has announced an investment of R$ 450 million (US$ 250 million), to be applied in the construction of a technology center in Campinas, in the interior of São Paulo, in the next two years. The project will be made up of two data centers, an administrative unit and another unit of research for the development of financial software and equipment that meet the demand of the bank. This will be the first research center of Santander in Brazil and it shall come into operation in the second quarter of 2012, said the Vice President of resources of the bank, Gustavo Roxo. For the implementation of the data centers, the bank has already chosen the companies that will erect the buildings and put up the electrical infrastructure. However, the decision of the companies that will supply equipment, such as servers, optic fiber structures, refrigeration systems, and security for the data centers will still be taken in the coming months.
According to the executive, the data centers will be built with the highest level of security (tier 4), according to the international law. That includes rules such as redundancy systems, cooling systems with the saving of 30% of energy compared to a conventional center, contingency of energy without the use of lead, recycling of rain water and use of solar energy.
When they go into operation, the centers will triple the data processing capacity of Santander, which currently has a data center in the capital. The project will require the hiring of nearly 2 thousand people. "The bank has a project of strong expansion and the new units will cater to the future demand", said Roxo. Santander currently has 3.5 thousand agencies and it plans on implementing another 600 units until 2013. "There is also the possibility of building a third data center to increase the processing scale, in case it is needed", he said.
The center will be built inside the area of the Development Company of the High Technology Center of Campinas (Ciatec), the technological park related to the University of Campinas (UNICAMP), which already has a structure of 20 companies of innovation and technology. The complex will be installed in a 1 million square meter area of the park. According to the Executive, the decision for the Ciatec was due to its nearness to universities and innovation companies. "The goal is to attract talents at the university and enter into partnerships with companies of the Park for the development of technologies that are strategic for the bank", said Roxo.