Alibaba expands cloud footprint with Brazil region – World
Alibaba Cloud, a provider of AI infrastructure and the intelligence backbone of Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group, has announced the launch of a cloud region in Brazil.
Featuring two new data centers in Sao Paulo, the region gives Brazilian end-users direct access to a portfolio of cloud services — computing, storage, networking, big data and more — that run on local infrastructure. They are engineered for low latency, resilience and data governance that mission-critical workloads require, Alibaba Cloud said in a statement on Aug 27.
This marks Alibaba”s first cloud region in South America, following the launch of its Mexico region in February last year.
“Brazil is one of the world’s most dynamic digital economies and a new market central to Alibaba Cloud’s expansion in Latin America,” said Allen Guo, general manager of Latin America and vice-president of international business at Alibaba Cloud Intelligence.
“With secure, resilient local infrastructure, our AI+Cloud portfolio, and a growing partner ecosystem, we are supporting Brazilian enterprises as they build their cloud and AI capabilities, and are connecting them to Asia and the rest of our global network,” Guo said.
Brazilian experts see this move as beneficial for the country’s AI development.
Larissa Wachholz, a partner at Vallya Participacoes and executive director at Vallya Agro, said Alibaba’s presence is “a positive sign for Brazil to be able to develop its AI competencies at the same level as other countries internationally”, adding that it will help Brazil’s fairly educated labor force to “improve its productivity levels”.
“This helps place Brazil in a good position to be part of the AI development,” she said. “Otherwise, if you don’t have data centers, a country might be left behind in the global development of AI technology.”
Alexandre Coelho, a professor of international relations at the University of Sao Paulo, said the data centers are expected to help Brazilian companies use AI more quickly and at a lower cost.
“They may increase competition, encourage partnerships with Brazilian companies and universities, improve professional training, and support the development of solutions adapted to Brazil’s economic and social needs,” he said.
Thriving ecosystem
Alibaba Cloud is working with Brazilian partners to build a thriving ecosystem in Brazil.
Insi, a technology solutions provider in Brazil, is partnering with Alibaba Cloud to support the technology transformation of large and midsize companies.
“Brazil’s enterprises are moving quickly to modernize, and they need partners who can deliver at scale,” said Roberto Certo, chief revenue officer at Insi.
“Alibaba Cloud brings together the cloud and AI technology we need to meet that demand, and with a region now operating locally, we can serve these customers with the performance, security and data residency they require.”
Marcelo Marques, cofounder of 4Linux, a Brazilian company specializing in open-source software and enterprise IT services, said his company is working with Alibaba Cloud “to bring world-class open-source AI models and reliable cloud infrastructure to Brazilian enterprises, backed by local expertise and support”.
Wachholz of Vallya Agro said that China, like Brazil and the rest of the world, cares about the sustainability related to data centers, and likely gets this concern addressed.
“If regulations are followed and standards are met, this announcement has all the possibilities of mostly very good news for the development of the Brazilian AI community and the overall community working on innovation and new digital technologies,” she said.