Week of August 18, 2011
| Latin Americans invest in Miami's high-tech services By Robert GrattanLatin Americans aren't just buying condos and checking in at hotels in Miami, they're also investing in high-tech infrastructure and data storage to connect their new and expanding businesses. At Terremark Worldwide, the Miami-based information technology company that operates NAP of the Americas in downtown Miami, revenues from Latin American countries have doubled in the past two years. "Look at the economic indicators in the region. Latin America has been growing at the rate of 7% to 8% a year," said Rodolfo Garcia, president of Terremark's Latin American business unit, who didn't disclose revenue figures. Verizon Communications, a leading provider of phone, Internet, TV, wireless and service bundles, bought locally founded Terremark for $1.4 billion in January. The IT research and advisory company Gartner has projected the IT service market to grow by $33 billion in Latin America and by $15 billion in Brazil, Terremark noted. By 2014, that growth is expected to accelerate to $22 billion in Brazil and $44 billion in Latin America. Terremark did not specify whether the sums attributed to Latin America were inclusive or exclusive of Brazil. Businesses in those regions need to use technology to be able to manage that growth, Mr. Garcia said, and their best option is to outsource that responsibility so they can focus on their own products. "These services are relatively new. In Latin America, companies used to look inward, they used to work with their own IT department…," he said. "The concept of outsourcing in Latin America has been growing little by little. They need to react rather quickly to the changes in the market." The NAP is uniquely positioned to provide those services, he added. "The NAP is the core, the center, the heart for telecommunications in Latin America. [Businesses] come to the NAP of the Americas, where we have 260 to 300 telecommunications companies…," Mr. Garcia said. "Every single company in Latin America has at least one company established at the NAP of the Americas." Creating this kind of connectivity brings opportunities for businesses in other markets. Data centers are a secondary business, Mr. Garcia said. "The more connectivity you have, the more business you can create." To read the entire issue of Miami Today online, subscribe to e -Miami Today, an exact digital replica of the printed edition. |
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