There is a very high probability that this article you are reading came to you through Miami.
The south Florida city is a key point through which 90% of Internet communications in Latin America passeither through your cell phone data or the Wi-Fi at your home or work.
To spread BBC Mundo articles, or Netflix series, or WhatsApp messages, most internet providers use the underwater cables that connect the world to the network.
And 18 of those cables, which carry internet to the entire Latin American region, reach a building in the center of the city of Miami with an attractive roof with giant spheres.
Its about Network Access Point of the Americas (NAP), one of the largest data centers in the world that is also a fortification of the 21st century.
The signature Equinix It manages and protects it with high security measures, which seek to prevent unauthorized intrusions, or resist a category 5 hurricane.
“When we declare an emergency, in a hurricane, for example, we close the doors. And they do not open until someone gives the instruction that it is safe to open them,” explains Graciela Padrón, senior director of operations at the NAP.
The experienced executive took BBC Mundo on an exclusive tour of the imposing data center located in the center of the city of Miami.
The world’s Internet connections – whether Wi-Fi providers for home or work, as well as telephone ones that offer Internet for mobile phones – are intertwined with the world through hundreds of submarine fiber optic cables.
This vast network managed by multiple telecommunications firms globally requires “neutral” interconnection points, which are data centers like the one in this Florida city.
It is as if the wiring were a “nervous system” that connects the world to the Internet and its “brain” was this six-story building with very restricted access.
To enter MI1, as the NAP of the Americas is also called, you must have an invitation.
People must necessarily be authorized and have to go through five security filters to be able to access the “cages” where the interconnection technology is located.
The guards carry weapons, denoting an authorization that not all private buildings in the US have. Afterwards, you must have an access card that, when used, only allows entry to one person.
Crossing this point feels like entering a movie bunker.
A subsequent filter requires authorized palm reading.
And finally, another entry code and biometric registration gives access to the hardware, the “neurons” of this brain.
The “brain” in control
Eduardo Carvalho, general director of Equinix for Latin America in Sao Paulo, describes this place: “The NAP of the Americas in Miami is the most important point for us and for other parts of the world such as Europe and Asia, because we have many cables that They land there.”
From the Latin American region and the Caribbean come 18 submarine cables to a point on the southwest coast of Florida and then, underground, they connect to the NAP infrastructure on the six floors of the building in Miami.
People walking these downtown streets have no idea that billions of internet data passes through the building beneath their feet.
There are some 30,000 connections on servers and other types of hardware that communicate through thousands of kilometers of wiring.
What Equinix and other data centers at this level provide to customers is hardware and logistics equipment placed inside closed spaces known informally as “cages”.
And each client has servers and hardware that must be protected to prevent the equipment assigned to them from being deliberately or accidentally interfered with by others, which could lead to service interruptions or even interference with sensitive private data.
Hence, the control we have is extremely careful.
Safety as a priority
To the NAP 176 clients are connectedincluding internet and telephone operators from Latin American and Caribbean countries.
But there are also connections from other services.
They can be “communication providers, schools, finance companies, or public and private organizations,” explains Padrón.
Key US government agencies have been connected to the NAP of the Americas in its more than 20 years of existence.
Hence, taking care of its security and stability is vital at all times.
“Here our clients come and work in their offices,” explains Padrón, emphasizing that technology is what Equinix provides.
The use that customers make of it is independent of the company.
This is important because The data center does not manage the information that comes to it.
They cannot read the content of messages from cell phone users, nor manage banking information, nor interrupt suspicious actions, for example.
They just make sure everything works and that there is no interruption.
“It’s like it’s an airport. We may transfer the user from one airline to another. The efficient thing about this is that it can not only interconnect you with one, but with many,” says Padrón.
Inside the rooms, the skein of wiring running across ceilings of this data center.
Of different sizes and colors, it would seem impossible to know which cable connects which equipment. But, surprisingly, there are only about 40 experts who keep this automated “brain” of the Internet in operation.
There are few images that are allowed to be captured due to the high sensitivity of the information that can be exposed.
In a coastal city like Miami, which is vulnerable to hurricanes, storms or flooding, many buildings could be damaged or collapse with an extreme weather event.
But MI1’s strength starts from the outside, with 43cm thick walls and a structure that, in theory, could withstand a category 5 hurricanea force that has never impacted him in almost 25 years.
And since South Florida is a region without hills or mountains, there are few places safe from a sudden rise in sea or river water.
But Padrón assures that the NAP is at the “highest point in Miami”14 feet (4.26 meters) above sea level, giving it a better chance of not being affected.
It is estimated that it will take more than 500 years for sea level rise to reach this area of the city center.
And in a virtual world, it’s not just thick physical walls that are key.
This data center must also be protected with the latest technology against cyber attacks and have the necessary backup equipment to replace damaged hardware.
Carvalho, from Equinix, assures that a cyber attack has never occurred. But what would happen in the extreme case that something went wrong?
“It’s not going to happen, because we have a very robust infrastructure. But if we had an interconnection problem, there would surely be a very big impact on apps, social networks, applications for ordering food, they would surely be affected,” he explains.
“But it is monitored all the time and there are data mirrors.”
Your machine rooms
As with a desktop computer or a laptopthe hardware used in the NAP of the Americas generates heat.
With so many computers in one place, Equinix must use 27 huge air conditioning unitssome of 100 tons, to guarantee a temperature of around 20 °C that allows normal operation of the hardware.
The units occupy entire wings on different floors of the building.
Upon entering these rooms, it seems as if you were entering the engine rooms of a ship, with generation units larger than a car.
This machinery, along with all the rest of the building’s equipment, requires a power supply of 13.2 megawatts of electricity per hour.
Such energy consumption is similar to that of a hospitalfor example, or which four homes would consume for an entire year.
This data center was first opened in 2001. And over more than two decades it has seen expansions and transformations to keep pace with advances in technology.
A hallway where the latest update is located gives the impression that you are entering the engineering room of the starship Enterprise, Star Trek.
“This is a building that does not age, because we transform it with technology so that it serves current technology,” says Padrón.
And it is a site that continues to expand, as the demand for internet traffic has increased.
Latest boom was seen with the pandemic, as many people were at home working or using their devices connected to the internet, which data traffic passing through Miami tripled to 1.5 terabytes per second.
After touring part of the building’s hardware rooms, the last point to see is the one that many in Miami can see from the downtown streets or surrounding highways.
On the ceiling are the large white spheres that have attracted attention for 20 years.
Padrón acknowledges that he has heard about the theories that are told about what is inside. One of the best known versions is that they are covers to prevent people from seeing where the antennas are pointing.
This is partly true. They are covered and served so that the satellite antennas were not affected by the recurring rain in Miami. However, they are no longer in use.
From the roof of the building, Padrón offers a revelation about what is happening with these spheres today: “we maintain them because they are an icon of downtown Miami.”
The satellite Internet connection is not functional for the large consumption of Internet data, which requires submarine fiber optic cables to connect the world.
So this data center will continue to be, along with others in the world, the point through which Latin America’s communications with e L World.
Click to read more stories from BBC News Mundo.
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