El Salvador is taking giant steps towards becoming a “digital nation”, as proposed by government officials. On November 23, El Salvador’s Grupo Aristos, a specialist in the development of free trade and industrial zones, together with the technology firm Codisa, from Costa Rica, began construction of Altius Tech Park, which is projected to be the largest technology park in the country, to be located in Ciudad Arce, La Libertad.
This industrial complex will have eight buildings. The first of these will house Data Trust, the first certified commercial data center that will offer storage and safeguarding of information for large companies in the financial and private sectors, as well as public sector institutions, with an initial investment of $30 million.
The data storage space will be anchored to the park and is expected to start operations in the last quarter of 2022.
The President of the Republic, Nayib Bukele, who attended the laying of the first stone, said that “the country we inherited was bad in everything (…) El Salvador will have the first data center. It will be the best data center in a technology park that will generate 5,000 jobs”.
“It is seen by all that our country now has a vision and economic growth, a positive direction,” Bukele added.
Data Trust will have a class A infrastructure and a Tier III certificate, an accreditation that guarantees the continuity of services, cooling systems and permanent power supply from renewable energy for equipment within the facilities.
The president of Grupo Codisa, Ronald Jiménez, stated that the data center project has taken more than two years of planning, including the study of suitable land, design, certifications and permits, with the vision of creating a world-class technological space.
“Our bet is to become the custodians of the most important communication in the country. Codisa is a regional leader in developing, operating and managing disruptive platforms using the most modern technology, there is no other. All this experience is now at the disposal of our Salvadoran partner to bring Data Trust to life”, added Jiménez.
For his part, José Escobar, CEO of Grupo Aristos, highlighted that Data Trust is the spearhead of the 46,000 square meter technology complex and is expected to open the door in the next three years to an ecosystem with investments of this type.
“Altius is born as a response to the demand for workspaces for local and foreign companies related to technology, we want to create a technological ecosystem never seen before in the country, with corporate offices, BPOs, call centers, data centers, software development, programming businesses, teaching, among others,” said Escobar.
In addition, the Salvadoran businessman expressed his gratitude to government institutions such as the Secretariat of Trade and Investment, led by Miguel Kattán, who provided support for this project, which when completed will have the potential to generate more than five thousand jobs, both direct and indirect.
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