Brazilian science is built every day within universities, research centers and other teaching institutions. The volume of knowledge production here is so significant that Brazil leads the ranking in this regard in Latin America, according to data from the Scimago Institutions 2021Rankings. Therefore, it is essential to have specialized facilities, such as data centers, to store, process and safely make available large volumes of scientific and technological data. These facilities are what we call National Data Centers (NDCs). 

The National Education and Research Network (RNP) provides global integration and collaboration supported by information and communication technologies for the generation of knowledge and excellence in education and research in Brazil. In addition, it provides public institutions of research and higher and technological education with advanced network infrastructure that enables and facilitates collaborative research in various areas of knowledge. Through applications that use this network, it makes it possible to carry out projects and implement public policies in the areas of technology, education, health, culture and defense. 

Now, we want to expand our infrastructure for education, research and innovation in the country, by setting up new National Data Centers (NDCs), connected at high speed, through integration with Rede Ipê, the national backbone for teaching and research, to host digital equipment and services to teaching and research institutions. For this reason, last Friday (4/28) RNP launched a public call for proposals in the Request for Proposals (RFP) format to find partners who own or operate data centers interested in signing technical cooperation agreements. The idea is to obtain data center infrastructure for the colocation service of these interested parties and, in return, RNP offers its local and long-distance optical infrastructure for mutual benefit.  

The colocation service resulting from this process consists of ensuring the governance, sustainability, privacy and security of the data, platforms and systems used by teaching and research institutions, as well as strengthening the national data infrastructure in collaboration with suppliers and public and private data centers. 

“From the establishment of long-term partnerships, we intend to structure the NDCs, offering strategic colocation services, secure and scalable storage, implementation of open institutional research repositories, among others, in the national territory, directly supporting education and research by institutions that are part of the RNP System, collaborating with scientific and technological advancement and national development. The idea is to create environments for offering services, with security, privacy, monitoring and quality”, details the Director of Services and Solutions at RNP, Antonio Carlos Fernandes Nunes. You can check the details of this Request for Proposals (RFP) by clicking here. Those interested can send their proposals to RNP until 6/16.