DE-CIX taps Elea Data Centers for South America expansion

German interconnectivity operator DE-CIX, considered the world’s leading internet exchange provider, selected Brazil’s Elea Data Centers to host its locations in South America, BNamericas was told.

The new internet exchange points, or IXPs, will be deployed at Elea’s datacenters in São Paulo (SPO1) and Rio de Janeiro (RJO1), and are scheduled to go live in early 2025.

“Our conversation with them started long ago. They were already in several markets and it didn’t make any sense for them not to be in Brazil yet,” Elea Data Centers’ CRO, Tito Costa, told BNamericas.

The expectation is that new DE-CIX IXPs will be installed later, Costa said. Elea does not have exclusivity with the German group, which can choose datacenters from other companies.

Porto Alegre, where Elea has two sites, was initially considered to host DE-CIX’s IXPs, according to the CRO. However, the floods in the southern city earlier this year, which affected the operations of several datacenters in the area, led to a change in plans.

For Elea, the partnership with DE-CIX strengthens its position as a neutral datacenter platform in South America, providing automated interconnection, high-speed peering and low latency.

At present, Elea operates nine datacenters in Brazil.

In addition to São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre, the company has sites in operation or under development in Brasília, Curitiba, Barueri, São Bernardo do Campo and Fortaleza.

It reports over 150 customers and more than 400MW among operational and planned capacity for the datacenters, with 2bn reais (US$366mn) in committed investments to date. 

The company is controlled by Piemonte Holding and has Goldman Sachs as main investor. 

LATAM EXPANSION

In 2023, DE-CIX launched in Latin America through a distributed internet exchange structure in Mexico City and Santiago de Querétaro. Hosted at KIO’s datacenters, those IXPs went live this year.

“There are several markets in the region that have potential. LatAm has been on the radar for us for a while, and we are certainly assessing what our next steps in the region will be,” Ivo Ivanov, CEO and chair at DE-CIX, told BNamericas at the time about expansions beyond Mexico.

As in Mexico, DE-CIX’s locations in Brazil will be integrated into the company’s global ecosystem, providing a high-performance interconnection platform for internet service providers (ISPs), content delivery networks, carriers, cloud service providers and enterprises in general.

DE-CIX reports over 50 IXPs deployed worldwide. 

It claims to have 3,377 Autonomous System Numbers (ASNs) connected at such spots, exchanging traffic among them. DE-CIX says its global network has 161 terabit capacity and a 23.5Tbps peak recorded.

ASNs are similar to a main phone number. It is through them that companies connect and share content worldwide.

Brazil already has one of the world’s busiest internet exchange structures and a large ASN base.

The country’s national IX.br service, managed by Brazilian internet exchange service NIC.br, connects more than 3,500 ASNs through 36 IXPs distributed in metropolitan areas across the country.

In February, São Paulo's IXP, which NIC.br claims to be the global leader in traffic exchange volume and number of participants, reached a 23Tbps peak. This week, NIC.br hired Nokia to upgrade its network capacity.

Costa does not see DE-CIX as competition for IX.br, which Elea also provides access to.

“On the contrary. Our vision is that one will spur the growth of the other. These traffic exchange platforms bring benefits to the country in terms of latency, content and connectivity.”

Elea’s goal is to become the fastest DE-CIX IXP in the world, with 100 participants in these structures in 18 months.