José Luis Massera Data Center marks a milestone in the history of the state-owned company. The center aims to support and provide security to the digital assets of market players, with the best high-capacity storage in the cloud for both companies and private users. In this sense, four leaders of the information technology sector and the audiovisual industry give their opinion on the benefits of a venture of this caliber for the country.
For Leonardo Loureiro, commercial manager of Quanam and president of the Uruguayan Chamber of Information Technology (CUTI), a data center of this level is necessary for the technological development to which the country aspires. "Today, technology services are inevitably going to the cloud, and although there are large multinationals that provide this service, many companies are better off hiring a local data center. First, because many operators have public sector clients and there is a regulation that disqualifies them from taking certain information out of the country, and second, because hiring a local data center allows them to provide a better service, reducing latency times. Latency is the delay produced by the delay in the propagation and transmission of packets within the network.
A great number of companies in the IT sector are using the Data Center as a contingency service, in case of any unforeseen event that could happen to their own computing center. For example, Loureiro says that there is a member company that belongs to CUTI that provides services to one of the main operators in Chile, and the client itself requires it to have a local contingency site. "Before, this member of the Chamber could not offer its client this requirement, because we did not have in Uruguay a data center with the quality that Antel provides us today".
From the Chamber they are making an agreement with Antel so that members can take advantage of the benefits offered by the Data Center and the enterprise cloud. He also highlighted the presence of "Mi Nube Antel", a new service designed for SMEs, start ups and software developers. It is an online portal, specially designed according to the resources and operations of this type of business.
For the engineer Eduardo Hipogrosso, Dean of the Faculty of Communication and Design of ORT, the Data Center marks a before and after for the IT sector. "The world today is digital, we cannot think of competing abroad if we do not have platforms that put us on an equal footing, otherwise we would be working at a disadvantage. Today Uruguay is working in the first division".
The Data Center implies not only an opportunity for new businesses, but it also boosts existing ones, as the Dean mentions. "I know audiovisual, animation and video game companies that were quite limited to work with other international companies because data transfer and digital production volumes were limited. Working from Uruguay for the world seems to me the best thing the country can do so that companies do not go abroad but work here and can compete at a global level".
For the engineer, the Data Center complements its services with other advances that Antel has been making in telecommunications, such as the installation of the new submarine fiber optic cable - in an agreement signed with Google - and ensures better possibilities for companies. He says that one of the keys of the service is the possibility of expanding the storage in the form of modules, this means that someone who hires space in the Data Center starts small but as it grows can hire more space, and this allows the company to have a gradual growth.
But so much technology is useless without adequate human resources. Training qualified technicians to analyze data and accompany these ventures is essential for the expansion of the technological wave. And that is why ORT University signed an agreement with Antel for the creation of a medialab, which allows research in new digital media.
The audiovisual world
One of the main sectors to benefit from the new Data Center is the audiovisual industry, due to the amount of data generated by the sector. Guillermo Peluffo, who in addition to being the leader of the band Trotsky Vengarán is the director of the production company Poncho Films, expresses himself in this sense. "In this industry you work with a lot of specific professionals: an editor, a postproducer, etc. Sometimes you have to retake a job from a year ago and you're no longer working with the same people, so you can never discard the camera originals and it becomes a very slow movement. It also happens that many times you hire specific services abroad and those people have to access your work at the same time, so having it online is an advantage, otherwise you have to be doing it from your servers. In that sense, as an audiovisual producer I see a lot of potential in the Data Center".
According to Peluffo, in his industry, being available and giving a quick response is essential. And with the facilities of the Data Center, a small production company can provide a service just as professional as a large company. "And conveying that image to clients is beneficial," he says.
For the producer, the fact that the Ing. Luis Massera center has the support of Antel is not a minor fact. "Uruguayans are in love with national companies and honestly, it inspires more confidence in me. There are many companies in this area, but with the prestige that Antel has, one is more encouraged".
Doctor of Philosophy and communicator Facundo Ponce de León, who also has his own production company, explains that today by the simple fact of existing one already generates data. "Being connected, receiving mails, sending messages, etc. All of this is information that is generated and stored in these warehouses of the future".
His production company Mueca Films, works in several countries around the world and having a center that can traffic from one place to another is important to him. "The audiovisual industry needs this kind of infrastructure and connectivity to grow and position itself. Not only in terms of support but also traffic, so that you can send what you are editing".
Finally, Ponce de León highlights the synergy generated by this kind of ventures, which puts different actors in contact with each other and encourages the creation of new projects and business schemes. "For example, you can get a call from the BBC because they need a place to host their Latin American content, and by passing the contact you can end up making a video for them. So, technically, the Data Center did not serve you because of its information storage capacity, but because of the links it generated in the process".
Source: El País
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