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21-04-2023
Portuguese Internet gets a new home
The new facilities of the association that manages the .pt domain are sustainable, modern, and open to society, creating new dynamics in the digital ecosystem in Portugal.
On 30th June 1988, the IANA - Internet Assigned Numbers Authority delegated the management of the .pt domain, the top-level Internet domain for Portugal, to the Foundation for National Scientific Computation (FCCN). Only 25 years later, this competence passed to the PT DNS Association, a private non-profit association, which has as associates the Foundation for Science and Technology, the Digital Economy Association, and the Portuguese Association for Consumer Protection. With the aim of offering high levels of quality, trust and security in the registration of .pt domain names, the association takes on the mission of creating connection points between Portugal and the world and strengthening the digital ecosystem in Portugal.
It was this association that moved in April 2022 to a new building on Rua Eça de Queiroz, next to Marquês de Pombal, in Lisbon, and which aims to be the new home of the Portuguese internet. The new building arises from the need to gather in a single space the various functions of .PT. Being a space open to the community, the .PT gathered competences in terms of cybersecurity, digital empowerment, artificial intelligence and the future of the Internet, turning the building into a technological hub at the same time, with spaces dedicated to the development of innovative projects and ideas. With a new space for the PTSOC (PT Security Operations Centre), it is also ensured an adequate working place for a specialised team that offers services to .PT clients and to the general public, such as the Free Help Line, for example.
BECAME BARRA BARRA
The space was built in accordance with a project developed by Miguel Amado Arquitetos. The works were closely followed by the .PT team, who could vote on the name given to the association's new home. The result of the voting was Barra Barra (//), a name that takes us back to the early days of the internet, when the current search engines did not exist and addresses had to be typed character by character as follows: "http two-point bar www dot pt dot pt".
The change to this space brought changes at various levels for the .PT team. On one hand, there are new spaces that the previous buildings did not provide: a garage, a library, an auditorium and a terrace. On the other hand, the modern facilities have allowed new equipment, such as a shower room for employees, rest areas, spaces for socializing and fraternizing among team members, which create new opportunities for meetings and presentation of internal and external projects and initiatives, and consequently new dynamics in the relationship among the association's employees.
BUILDING SUITABLE TO THE NEW WAYS OF WORKING
Along with the physical changes, other changes have occurred - and will continue to occur - in .PT's daily life. Employees now work in a hybrid regime, reducing commuting to and from the office; and they have a flexible timetable, facilitating the articulation between professional and personal life. There are no fixed positions anymore, in order to facilitate joint work between colleagues of various areas, depending on the project at hand. The association also considers that it is now better prepared to receive and work with its external partners, and to fulfil its commitments to promote the digitalisation of companies in Portugal and the digital empowerment of the Portuguese population. In this domain, improvements are expected in the social, economic and environmental impact, both directly and indirectly, of the action of .PT, which already stands out in these areas as a member of the Digital with Purpose movement.
On the other hand, the new building has sustainability certification and its construction incorporated sustainable materials and more than 30% of construction waste, complying with principles of circular economy. The work carried out included the installation of LED lighting in interior and exterior spaces, with a presence system, and equipment to reduce the use of water. The architectural project was carried out in order to guarantee the largest possible number of hours of natural lighting, maintaining numerous pre-existing elements and giving new use to old materials. The building mirrors the sustainable action of .PT, which promised to reduce by 5% per year the produced solid urban waste until 2023, and to increase in a similar proportion the amount of waste sent for recycling. Since 2020, the association has eliminated single-use plastics.
OPEN HOUSE
This initiative comes to create, as intended by .PT, a true "home of the Portuguese internet", as the Chairwoman of the Board of Directors, Luísa Ribeiro Lopes mentioned at the inauguration of the space. For the first time, a single space will bring together entities and competences in terms of management, registration and maintenance of the top level domain corresponding to Portugal, cybersecurity, digital empowerment, artificial intelligence and the future of the Internet, at the same time serving with spaces dedicated to the development of innovative projects and ideas. In this house, says the association, there will be training sessions open to the public, companies and organisations, which will help Portugal in the transition to the digital economy, as well as an Innovation Centre dedicated to supporting new ideas, experimental projects and innovative business models.
The association hopes that the new building will bring more dynamism to the activity. The use of the building and the initiatives organised in it will tend to increase as the space becomes better known; the quantity of partnerships established by .PT with other initiatives, associations, companies and entities of the public and social sectors, will also increase given the new tools offered by the modern facilities. "The number of people working under these more modern conditions should also increase as the .PT operation expands," explains Sónia Veloso, People and Office Manager at .PT. "And we are certain that the amount of entities working together, in a co-creation regime, using these facilities, will also continue to increase in the coming months and years", promises the responsible person.
This article was originally published on National Sustainability Award.
Please note: the articles on this blog may not convey the opinion of .PT, but of its author.
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