The Digital infrastructure They have become strategic for the role they play in an increasingly automated world. Digital connectivity constitutes a key factor for the development of economic activity, for the increase in productivity, the impulse to innovation and territorial and social vertebration. Investing in digital infrastructure involves improving the quality of education, employment and health as well as generating a positive impact on the environment.
Among these infrastructure are data centers, keys to send, store and interconnect the information. The demand for data centers in Spain will increase by 90% to 2028 driven by digitalization, the consumption of cloud services and the adoption of emerging technologies, according to the “Demand and impact of the data centers in Spain”, made by Spain DC DC (The Spanish Data Centers Association) In collaboration with Accenture, presented this week. Spain will go from a data demand from 1,589 exabytes with which it has closed 2024 to 3,028 exabytes in 2028, which represents a sustained annual growth around 20% over the next four years.
«Investing in the development of data centers in Spain is not just a matter of infrastructure; It is a commitment to the future. These facilities represent an opportunity to close the gap with Europe, guarantee the competitiveness of our companies and consolidate Spain as a relevant actor in the global digital economy, ”says Robert Assink, Vice President of Spain DC. It is clear that if we do not strengthen our infrastructure interconnection “we run the risk of lagging behind in a world where innovation and growth depend more and more on the ability to process and distribute information efficiently.”
Despite these growth forecasts, the report indicates Spain has lost positions regarding Europe. While in 2018 it represented 4.3% of the total volume of data in the continent, the growth registered between 2018 and 2023 has not managed to maintain that level. To save the gap that exists with Europe, Spain would need to reach an average annual growth volume of data demanded from 22.5% to 2028, which would imply an additional 2.2% increase to the current rhythm. In this way, it could stabilize its relative participation in the total volume of data in Europe and ensure a constant and competitive proportion.
The document speaks of the need for significant effort in terms of investment in digital infrastructure, adoption of advanced technologies and increased electrical distribution networks. And in this way the country could respond to the growing demands of the European and global market, maintaining its competitiveness in a fast expansion digital environment. As does Manuel López Ordoñez, Managing Director and Responsible for Cloud and Infrastructure in Accenture in Spain, «Spain is in an appropriate position to become a main actor in the development of data centers. Factors such as low soil cost, competitiveness in renewable energy prices, a robust fiber optic network and its strategic geographical location, are key to attracting investments in this sector ». However, for these factors to materialize in a true opportunity to boost innovation and digital sovereignty, “it is necessary that companies and institutions quickly adopt these technologies,” he adds. And also speaks of the need for a regulatory framework that facilitates the rapid implementation of new projects and the development of digital talent necessary to sustain this growth.
Present and future
5G networks are already widely deployed worldwide, offering faster speeds (up to 500 Mbps in real conditions), lower latency and greater capacity compared to 4G. “Most operators are in the process of transition from 5g NSA (Non-Standalone) to 5G SA (Standalone) (the ‘authentic’ 5G, with the RAN 5G connected to the 5G network nucleus),” explains Ignacio Berbera, senior Research Engineer in IMDEA Networks. In terms of standardization, 5G has started a second phase, known as 5G Advanced, «which begins in Rerease 18 of 3GPP and continues in future versions. Based on existing bases, 5G Advanced introduces significant improvements in performance, efficiency and versatility, such as the integration of AI, energy efficiency, non -terrestrial networks (NTN) and improvements in extended reality (XR), ”he adds.
However, remember that some analysts and observers of the industry consider that 5G has not fully complied with the initial expectations: the user experience has not been radically different from that of 4G LTE in many cases; Coverage remains inconsistent, especially indoors and in implementations in millimeter bands (greater than 24 GHz); Many of the promised revolutionary applications remain theoretical or are in limited pilot phases. «And the business model for network operators is complicated, due to high costs of deployment and operation. In addition, the business adoption of private networks (NPN, Non-Public Networks) has been slower than expected, ”says the researcher. As for the 6G Network, he affirms that it is in the initial research phase, with a development that points to its deployment after 2030. “Its objective is to address the future demands that 5G cannot fully satisfy,” specifies. Until now, the main use cases identified for 6G are immersive communication; mass communication; hyperconfiable and low latency communication; ubiquitous connectivity; AI and communication and integration of perception and communication.
Ignacio Berberana explains that research in technologies for 6G currently focuses on operating bands in the range of terahercios (100 GHz to 3 THZ), with higher data rates and lower latency. Also in “the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and automatic learning (ML) to optimize network performance, improve energy efficiency and enable advanced applications,” he says. It is also working on joint communication and perception (JCAS or ISAC) to improve the awareness of the environment; in Massive Mimo technologies with thousands of antennas to improve spectral efficiency in the FR3 spectrum (7-24 GHz) and in new network architectures that allow greater flexibility and programming capacity. While 6G is at a very general level of definition, expect changes with the recent celebration of the 3GPP workshop, TSG#107 in Korea. “Its main objective is to initiate the work for the specification of relaase 20, the first associated with 6G, with special emphasis on the radio interface and the architecture of the 6G network nucleus,” he clarifies.
Sea of opportunities
Submarine cables are one of the critical infrastructure of the current digital era. More than 99% of global communications travel through submarine cables, which makes them an essential element for economic competitiveness and national security of countries. «At a time when connectivity and data traffic becomes increasingly important, the transmission capacity is crucial. In this sense, the transmission capacity of a latest generation submarine cable is more than one million times higher than the residential Internet connection, ”explain Fuentes de Telefónica. Telxius, telephone infrastructure subsidiary, has a network of more than 100,000 kilometers that includes nine state -of -the -art fiber optic cables.
Spain stands out as one of the main connectivity hubs to southern Europe in or that to submarine cables refers. There are several factors that have influenced this prominent role, such as their privileged geographical position, between Africa and Europe, and in direct connection with the Atlantic or having some telecommunications infrastructure to the avant -garde of Europe both for the scope and capacity of their access networks (mobile network and ftth) and for their nucleus networks (transport and IP) that support the communications throughout the territory. From Telefónica they also indicate the role that this company has had “to provide the country international connectivity of the latest generation, with the maximum speed and the minimum latency in data transmission, taking into account that the submarine cables make up a strategic infrastructure through which a very important part of world traffic runs.”
An example of the latter is the start -up in 2018, together with Microsoft and Meta, Marea, of the first latest generation cable that tied in Spain. “This has been the first of a dozen underwater systems that have tied in the Iberian Peninsula and that have helped enhance Spain as one of the countries of the continent with better international connectivity, as demonstrated by the fact that technology companies such as Microsoft, Google or Amazon have established their cloud regions here or numerous data centers,” the entity highlights.
Telefónica continues to enhance connectivity in Spain through the deployment of submarine cables adapted to European security standards and the strategic autonomy policy of the continent. Soon it will deploy the Pen-Can-X submarine cable to join the Canary Islands with the Peninsula and the rest of the world, facilitating the archipelago enjoying a robust connectivity, with high performance and a minimum latency.
Reliable and fast
Vicente Negro Valdecantos, Professor of UPM Environment Technologies, he believes important to remember that data transmission is not done by satellite. «It is more reliable and fast if performed by submarine cables. The Peninsula presents a strategic and connective position that below the oceans can take the data home, ”he says. The Medloop stands out in Barcelona that “connects with ports of the European Mediterranean” and the jellyfish that “connects the Mediterranean with European and African ports” and the Aqua Comm cable that “unites Europe, the Middle East and India.” It also indicates that Bilbao has become one of the large submarine cable arrival centers nationwide. Specifically, in 2022, «this city received the Grace Hopper cable to connect directly with Bellport (United States); In 2018, the Marea cable connected to the Iberian Peninsula with Virginia Beach (United States); And, in 2022, the Tata TGN cable joined the United Kingdom since the same city mentioned, ”he emphasizes.
Other regions that house submarine cables are Andalusia (Almería, Cádiz and Malaga), Valencian Community (Valencia and Sagunto), Cantabria (Santander) and the two archipelagos. “We can consider Spain as ‘hub’ underwater in the digital era for the distribution of data by the seabed,” says the professor.
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