NAVER Corp. is South Korea’s largest web search engine, as well as a global ICT brand that provides services including LINE messenger, currently with over 200 million users from around the world, the SNOW video app, and the digital comics platform NAVER WEBTOON, the result of which NAVER stores and manages a wide array of user data. Since the advent of the internet, advances in telecommunication and smartphone technology, and other new technological developments in the IT industry have triggered explosive levels of data production and direct consumption, all of which has led to an increase in NAVER’s IT infrastructure as well.
Against this backdrop, NAVER opened a 120,000-unit data center along the outskirts of Gubong Mountain in Chuncheon on June 2013. The construction of this data center was to effectively manage NAVER’s ever-expanding IT infrastructure and guarantee safe user data storage, fueled by the creative spirit of our ancestors in creating the Korean language and building on lessons that drive home the value of data records.
Nonetheless, as of 2019, the capacity of this data center has started to reach its high usage in a matter of six years. In addition, recent developments in the IT industry, such as the growing could market and introduction of 5G technology, are expected to create even more data and generate a myriad of new values based on data which is processed in data centers. For this, NAVER plans to build a data center for preparing it in line with future changes in society and other developments home and abroad.
NAVER data center should provide the level of computing power for securely storing/processing data which will be produced from various kinds of devices that will be connected to each other in the future. Besides, cost-effective architectural structure, infrastructure (electricity, machines, etc.) that can fulfill IT infrastructure needs that arise from a fast-changing society, and ample capacity should be developed/provided in the future.
Furthermore, in order to operate 24x7 and integrated manage the electricity, machine, and other IT infrastructure, NAVER plan to build energy-efficient and sustainable data center by adopting the state-of-the-art technologies.
The data center will serve as a technology platform that undergirds research and development of AI, autonomous vehicles, robotics, and other future technological developments that will promote transformation and innovation while creating a platform for win-win partnerships.
NAVER believes that the mainstay of the 4th industrial revolution is a data center. NAVER data center for cloud will serve as the foundation for future cutting-edge businesses in 5G, robotics, AI, big data usage, and much more to ultimately help secure data sovereignty by enhancing national competitiveness and guaranteeing safe data storage and management activities.
Competition Type
International competition in 2 Stages
Eligibility
Anyone with architectural expertise is eligible to apply as an independent or joint bidderSchedule
Stage 1: 30 SEP - 25 OCT
Stage 2: 31 OCT - 04 DEC,
05 DEC PT(LIVE STREAMING)
Jury
Jury member will open to public after the evaluation.
Winner Announcement
09 DEC
Awards
Stage 1: 10 Honorable mentions(5 Finalist included), 30Million each(VAT included)
Stage 2: The designer of the winning proposal shall be granted preferential negotiating rights to conclude the design contract with NAVER Corp.
Construction Budget
KRW 540 billion won (Phase 1 of 3, VAT not included, server system budget not included)
Title
Open Call: NAVER DATACENTER FOR CLOUD DESIGN COMPETITIONType
Competition Announcement (Built Projects & Masterplans)Website
Organizers
Submission Deadline
September 30, 2019 12:00 PMVenue
Republic of KoreaPrice
Free
Design Fee
Approximately KRW 15-20 billion (VAT included)