Project underway to establish Curacao as region’s primary technology hub
Thursday March 17 2011 | 05:51 AM

Detailed plans are now in place to build in Curacao the largest datacenter and technology park in the region to service businesses and institutions located in the Caribbean and northern Latin America.

The company, Curacao Technology Exchange NV (CTEX), and sister company Curacao Technology Partners, in partnership with UTS (local telecommunications provider) and the government of Curacao, conducted detailed research for a year to determine the viability of establishing the most advanced and expansive technology park in the region.

The goal of the project is to leverage Curacao’s geo-political positioning to offer businesses and governments in the region ‘bunker-type’ facilities from which they can operate their organizations either as a secondary/backup or primary facility.

“We are excited about the project and believe that the economic impact to Curacao will ultimately drive the creation of a new economic sector resulting in more jobs and revenues for the island. In many ways, the project repositions Curacao as a new business center in the same manner as the offshore sector did decades ago. More importantly the technology park as a whole will drive up our education levels and result in downstream growth in other industries such as financial services, real-estate, hospitality and telecommunications. If we are to become a player in today’s world that is primarily driven by technology, then Curacao must seek its leadership role in the region. This is our opportunity to do so,” said Prime Minister Gerrit Schotte.

Additionally, CTEX’s facilities will provide the government of Curacao with a safe facility from which to operate in the event of disasters, natural or otherwise.

“Because of the geographic positioning of Curacao, which is located relatively outside the traditional hurricane belt in a politically stable jurisdiction, having a center on the island that can provide backup for critical business transactions and data, makes all the sense and places our island in a unique and enviable position in the region. Furthermore CTEX’s facilities will provide companies with investments in neighbouring countries such as Venezuela, Colombia, Suriname and Panama with an alternative operating facility,” said Anthony DeLima CTEX’s CEO.

CTEX’s facilities will be built based on the international LEED certified standards for energy efficiency and will be the only facility in its class in the region. The facilities are designed to withstand hurricane force winds and operate independently for 15 business days based on self-sustained power generation, accommodation and provisioning for emergency staff located in the facility.

The park consists of four independent pods/buildings, each operating independently. Total facility space will be approximately 12,000 m2 (each independent facility will be approximately 3,000 m2).

The company will offer businesses and governments a unique blend of services, which include the digitalization and storage of information sensitive paper documents in a climate controlled environment, an expansive datacenter housing the latest ‘cloud’ computing infrastructure that customers can lease as well as full emergency recovery facilities with standby offices with international telecommunications access.

Customers will be able to safely locate their data (paper or digital) and mission critical application and software in the facility which will operate on a 24/7, 365 days a year basis. Customers are provided with a comprehensive set of security, transaction, and performance management services in a super high-security facility.

“To ensure the proper redundancy and access, a new submarine cable infrastructure is being installed that will land in CTEX’s facilities and, together with existing submarine cables, will provide redundant international access. The new cable will be the only cable infrastructure to enter Curacao via the northern coast line through ‘Playa Canoa.’ All other submarine cables today enter Curacao via the southern coast. Curacao’s premier telecommunications company UTS will be the preferred provider for connectivity to the facility. This means that for UTS, the facility will generate traffic and revenue above today’s levels. Attracting business to establish themselves in the facility will be a huge win for UTS and Curacao. More traffic means more revenues for UTS and thus more revenues for the government, UTS’s primary shareholder. And ultimately more funds to support other efforts infrastructure, social and economic programs,” said Minister Charles Cooper in charge of the telecommunications portfolio for Curacao.

To gain an understanding how a facility like CTEX runs and operates, Cooper and Schotte, together with delegates from ROP (previously DROV) and ‘Buro Domeinbeheer’, were invited by Anthony de Lima to visit a similar facility in Miami. A visit of that facility provided the delegation with a solid understanding of the building characteristics of a similar world-class facility but on US soil.

“Ultimately our vision is to ‘Evolve Curaçao into a regional hub where the best and brightest in the region come to participate in the ongoing global technology revolution.’ The value thereof is simply immeasurable and the opportunities far beyond what can be envisioned today. Curacao will benefit and our people will benefit, because this project and the resulting economic impact will re-position our island. Curacao will have a new role; not just as a tourism destination, but also as a place where companies and governments can safely locate their most important assets; their data and the application and systems that service their operations and their customers, and do so in a highly secured facility. Over the next few months the company will finalize its funding structure and targets construction of the first of four facilities to start July this year and become operational in September 2012,” said de Lima.