Brazil is on the spotlight for IT companies like never before. During Business IT Exhibition and Conference South American (BITS), a South American version of Cebit held in Porto Alegre, many major companies announced a set of plans for Brazil and other emerging markets.
Microsoft announced on Wednesday that an arm of Microsoft Research will be located in Brazil. Microsoft Research invests annually US$ 9 billion. One of the projects in the South American country is to install startups in stadiums for the 2014 World Cup. A partnership would be established with the construction consultancy Amsterdam Arena, which manages football team Ajax.
The venue of Microsoft Research in the country was not confirmed. However, a significant number of projects and startups will be in Rio de Janeiro. The unity will be the first of research of the giant in Latin America.
“At least six stadiums in Brazil will get our support through startup companies. We have a strong input in Brazil”, stated Paulo Ludicibus, market evangelist of Microsoft in a conference. Microsoft’s technology center in Brazil already has a 700 terabytes datacenter in São Paulo and investments in over 2,000 startups.
Intel also announced initiatives in Brazil in the event, but on Thursday. The strategy of the semiconductor company is to hire as many Brazilian software developers as they could. In a lecture named “Intel software in Brazil – challenges and opportunities”, Kumar Balasubramanian, Intel’s senior director of business and services, said that this a matter of understanding the local demand. “Local applications will be our differential in our ‘Brazilian softwares’. In India, for instance, the softwares are made to attend foreign demand. Here is thought to attend the domestic market”, explained Balasubramanian.
According to local sources, Intel already hired nine Brazilian developers, mostly focused on Google’s Android. Agreements between Intel and the Department of Engineering of Unicamp, University of São Paulo, and Federal University of Minas Gerais were signed this week and is also part of the strategy. “We have to be close to universities and contribute to resumes”, admitted to IntelligentHQ Doug Fischer, general manager of Intel’s System Software Division.
According to the Brazilian Association of IT, the market grew by 11.3 percent in 2011 and generated US$ 102 billion. Software development grew by 11.7 percent with a revenue of US$ 41.6 billion. Most of software sales in the country are directed to banks and government agencies.
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