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Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Today's News Headlines
* Cubika expects revenues to grow 40% this fiscal year - Argentina
* Bull, A2iA win contract with major bank - Brazil
* Govt accepts OECD invitation, challenge presented for IT industry - Chile
* Ebix targets Latin America through MCN Technology acquisition - Brazil, Regional
* SunGard adds 9 clients in CALA during 2009 - Regional
* StarTek to set up shop, looks to hire staff - Costa Rica
* Artech looks to attract new sales partners - Brazil
* IN BRIEF Cemig, Celesc sign distribution, IT cooperation MOU - Brazil
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* Cubika expects revenues to grow 40% this fiscal year - Argentina
Argentine software developer Cubika expects its revenues to expand 40% this fiscal year, ending July 31, compared to US$5.8mn in fiscal 2009, company marketing director Sebastían Gryngarten told BNamericas.
The executive said exports are expected to account for 35-40% of the company's overall revenues this fiscal year, compared to 30% last fiscal year.
The company's main markets for exports are the US, Chile and other Latin American markets.
The company expects to open a field office in the US this fiscal year, the executive said, but the company has yet to decide where the US office will be located.
Cubika also plans to expand its existing office in Chile's capital Santiago, which was opened in 2009.
The company ended last fiscal year with 45 clients. "We expect our client base to grow 25% this fiscal year," Gryngarten added.
Cubika mainly provides e-business solutions bases on Java J2EE, Flex and .Net technologies, and offers different products including e-learning, e-banking, e-government, portal design and content management solutions.
By Juan Pedro Tomás
Business News Americas
* Bull, A2iA win contract with major bank - Brazil
French IT company Bull and compatriot developer of handwritten data-capture and document classification technologies A2iA have won a contract to deploy a Linux-based check truncation solution for a large bank in Brazil, the winning companies said in a joint statement without reporting the name of the bank.
Under the project, Bull will integrate A2iA's CheckReader into the overall solution. A2iA CheckReader offers all the necessary features for Brazil's check truncation regulations, including image quality, analysis, image validity and usability analysis as well as recognition of all compulsory fields.
"The Bull/A2iA solution is expected to serve as the model application for all financial institutions in the emerging truncation market," the companies said.
With electronic check truncation, physical checks are no longer exchanged by banks. Checks are scanned at each branch and replaced by a digital image.
"With this new solution we expect to drastically reduce the bank's operating costs, as well as speed-up the clearing process and improve transaction security," A2iA chairman Jean-Louis Fages said.
"This project is very important to A2iA as it is one of the initial full scale check truncation projects with a leading Brazilian bank, and is the only Linux based application in the market," A2iA marketing and sales manager for Latin America, Jorge Tavares, told BNamericas. "By pioneering this application with our partner Bull, we can continue to bring our global experience and success to the Brazilian financial markets."
Tavares also said the project is expected to be fully deployed in June or July this year.
"We hope to continue at the forefront of technology within the financial market as well as branch to other sectors such as government, healthcare and telecommunications," Tavares added.
Bull helps corporations and public sector organizations to optimize the architecture, operations and the financial return of their information systems and their mission-critical related businesses.
In turn, A2iA develops natural handwriting recognition, intelligent word recognition (IWR) and intelligent character recognition (ICR) technologies and products for the payment, mail, document and forms processing markets. The company has offices in France and the US.
By Juan Pedro Tomás
Business News Americas
* Govt accepts OECD invitation, challenge presented for IT industry - Chile
Chile has become the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) 31st member and the organization's first in South America under an accession agreement signed on Monday (Jan 11) in Santiago by OECD secretary general Angel Gurría and Chilean finance minister Andrés Velasco.
Chile will formally become an OECD member once congress ratifies this agreement.
"The 'Chilean way' and its expertise will enrich the OECD on key policy issues," said Gurría during the signing ceremony in Santiago. "Chile has been engaged in a continuous effort to reform its economy. This experience will be an asset for the OECD as we try to address issues such as inequality or sustainable pension systems."
Since it began talks with the OECD in May 2007, Chile has taken significant steps by introducing new laws to end the banking secrecy that provides a shield for possible tax evasion and enabling prosecutors to pursue companies suspected of bribery and corruption, OECD said in a press release.
"The Chilean economy has been growing at over 5% a year for the last 20 years. Impressive progress has been made in reducing poverty, although more still needs to be done. Chile's groundbreaking pension reforms in the early 1980s have served as a model for many other countries."
OECD said that Chile's prudent tax policies gave it the necessary financial leeway for stimulus measures to support demand and employment when the financial crisis hit in 2008.
In recent months, and as part of the OECD accession process, competition laws and consumer protection in the country have been strengthened. New legislation has established a clear separation between the state and the board of copper mining company Codelco, Chile's largest state-owned enterprise, OECD noted.
In the private sector, a new law will boost transparency by requiring increased information for financial markets while combating misuse of insider information and reinforcing requirements for external auditors, OECD said, adding that another major reform has seen the extension of public pension coverage.
The OECD will release its latest economic survey of Chile on January 21 in Santiago. The survey sets out the OECD's assessment and recommendations on the main economic challenges faced by Chile.
CHALLENGE FOR IT INDUSTRY
Chilean IT industry association Acti recently called for the country to raise IT use to the level of other countries in the OECD. Acti secretary general Hernán Orellana said the OECD represents a different league in terms of technology.
"We are not only joining the most important economies of the world. We are also leaving behind our position as Latin America's leader in terms of IT use and positioning ourselves in the bottom third of the OECD countries in this area," Orellana said. "From now on, we really need to compare ourselves to this group of countries."
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* Ebix targets Latin America through MCN Technology acquisition - Brazil, Regional
US supplier of on-demand software and e-commerce services to the insurance industry, Ebix, has acquired Brazilian IT firm MCN Technology & Consulting, the former said in a statement without reporting the pricetag.
The acquisition is expected to be fully completed on January 15, Ebix said.
MCN focuses on the insurance industry through the provision of IT products and services with the flagship product being Exchanges for pension and annuities, besides specialized enterprise integration products, eBusiness transactional portals and specialized consulting.
"The acquisition of MCN provides us with a solid relationship base in the Latin American insurance markets. We see this as an entry point for Ebix to cross-sell its exchanges and back-end systems in Latin America," Ebix president and CEO Robin Raina said.
"Brazil was a natural choice as our Latin American headquarters since it accounts for 40% of the region's insurance revenues. MCN has strong relationships with leading life insurance and P&C companies in Latin America and we intend to develop those relationships further," Raina added.
Ebix provides end-to-end solutions ranging from infrastructure exchanges, carrier systems, agency systems and BPO services to custom software development for all entities involved in the insurance industry. The company has offices in Brazil, Singapore, Australia, the US, New Zealand, India and Canada.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* SunGard adds 9 clients in CALA during 2009 - Regional
US educational software developer SunGard added nine new clients in the Caribbean and Latin America (CALA) region for its higher education technology solutions, the company said in a statement.
SunGard's new clients in the CALA region are Anhembi Morumbi university and Insper, in Brazil; Andrés Bello university and San Sebastían university, in Chile; Pontificia Bolivariana university, in Colombia; Universidad del Pacífico and Senati, in Peru; Escuela Bancaria y Comercial, in Mexico; and the College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts, in Trinidad & Tobago.
In the CALA region, SunGard serves customers in Brazil, Colombia, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Puerto Rico, as well as the English-speaking Caribbean.
"Higher education institutions are showing a renewed drive throughout the region to strengthen their positions against global competition and help sustain growth during difficult economic times," said SunGard Higher Education VP for Latin America, Juan Albelo. "Technology is one of the most effective measures in helping them improve performance and increase access to education."
SunGard Higher Education serves colleges, universities and foundations in 40 countries worldwide.
SunGard is one of the world's leading software and IT services companies. The company serves more than 25,000 clients in over 70 countries.
The company provides software and processing solutions for financial services, higher education and the public sector. SunGard also provides disaster recovery services, managed IT services, information availability consulting services and business continuity management software.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* StarTek to set up shop, looks to hire staff - Costa Rica
US business process outsourcing (BPO) and optimization services provider StarTek (NYSE: SRT) will open a BPO center in Barreal de Heredia, Costa Rica, marking the company's first site in Latin America, StarTek announced on its website.
StarTek said the "well educated, bilingual talent pool and a good business climate" made Costa Rica "the ideal place to establish the first Latin America site."
The company is looking to hire 100 employees that will provide customer service and technical assistance to clients, primarily in the telecommunications industry. All applicants must be bilingual.
The new 37,000 square foot facility is located in Barreal de Heredia's American Free Trade Zone Center and is StarTek's 20th destination, after first setting up internationally in Manila, the Philippines. The Denver-based firm provides services mainly from its operational facilities in the US and Canada.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* Artech looks to attract new sales partners - Brazil
Uruguayan IT firm Artech is looking to attract new sales partners in the Brazilian market, Brazilian IT news site Baguete reported.
The company expects to recruit firms in the silver category, in which partners assign exclusive sales agents for the company's GeneXus solutions. Artech also plans to recruit gold and platinum partners. In the gold category, partners must have an exclusive general manager and sales agents for the GeneXus product while in the Platinum category, a special pre-sales technical division for the solution is also needed.
Artech currently has six distributors in Brazil, namely BXT, CPMTI, Dash, Heurística, Heurys and That One.
In Brazil, Artech expects to increase by 100% the number of users for its GeneXus solution in two years, according to the report.
In 2009, the company's revenues in Brazil grew by approximately 50% compared to the previous year. Some of Artech's clients in this market are Faber-Castell, Nestlé, Itaú, Porto Seguro and Toyota.
The company also plans to expand its training centers in Brazil. Artech currently has two training centers in São Paulo, one in Rio de Janeiro and another in Porto Alegre.
With headquarters in Uruguay and offices in Brazil, Mexico, the US and Japan, Artech has presence in 35 countries around the world including through business partners.
Founded in 1988, Artech is a provider of knowledge-based software development tools. The company's flagship product is GeneXus, a program that helps software engineers build their own customized products.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* IN BRIEF Cemig, Celesc sign distribution, IT cooperation MOU - Brazil
Brazilian utility companies Cemig (NYSE: CIG) and Celesc have signed an MOU to increase cooperation in areas including distribution, energy efficiency, automation and IT.
The MOU is valid for 12 months starting in January 2010, the companies said in a joint statement.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
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In-deph interview
* The year of Linux
Carlos Muñoz
General manager
Linux Latin America
Regional
http://www.bnamericas.com/interviews/technology/Carlos_Munoz_,Linux_Latin_America,/169479453
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Main companies covered in today's news
* Global Crossing Ltd.
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Global_Crossing_Ltd,-Global_Crossing/169479453
* McAfee, Inc.
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/McAfee,_Inc,-McAfee/169479453
* Hewlett-Packard Company
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Hewlett-Packard_Company-HP/169479453
* Toshiba Corporation
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Toshiba_Corporation-Toshiba/169479453
* Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Corporacion_Nacional_del_Cobre_de_Chile-Codelco/169479453
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