Amazon has been, for years, the great object of desire of the Argentine Government in regard to the arrival of foreign investments. The company of Jeff Bezos, the richest businessman in the world, looks sideways at South America, which is presented as one of the great poles to be exploited by technology in the next five years.
In particular, the tycoon aims to expand the datacenters business with Amazon Web Services (AWS), today the # 1 player worldwide in data storage. For your company it is essential to develop robust infrastructure in the region so that the data can be much closer to its large mass of customers.
Today, Argentina, Chile and Colombia are the candidates to keep this investment. Each develops its strategies on the complex negotiating board to keep Amazon's hundreds of millions of dollars.
AWS had already confirmed its largest presence in Latin America with an "Edge" location in Argentina, the first of its kind in this territory. In that direction, the former US ambassador, Noah Mamet, said the country is running ahead in this South American race. "This effort will mean an investment of more than $ 40 million, which in turn can lead to a larger outlay," he added.
His statements become more relevant with the announcement of the opening of the new facilities in Pilar of EdgeConnex, an American developer of data centers "Edge", as this breakthrough opens the way for Amazon to join as its main customer locally .
Thanks to its structure, which demanded an investment of US $ 50 million, the dream of seeing Amazon on local land can finally come true.
Pillar Operation
Market sources linked to the business of the datacenters assure iProUP that among the EdgeConnex customers will be AWS, an advance that coincides with Mamet's claims and statements of the company itself.
What are the benefits of a data center with these characteristics? It allows its customers to reduce latency times, "cache" content or information locally and improve the user experience or speed of operations.
For example, if a video platform can store its thousands of most consumed movies locally, it improves access and content speed. In the case of an e-commerce company (for example, Mercado Libre, AWS customer), it manages to accelerate the loading of its pages.
This type of data center - "Edge" - should not be confused with a traditional one like the one that has been speculated for years that Amazon can build in Argentina or Chile. However, it is a strong first step on the road that leads to much larger investments.
The sources consulted by iProUP realize that AWS advances in the contracting of space in the Pilar data center to mount and offer Amazon CloudFront, a content delivery network that sends data, videos, applications and API securely to its customers around the world, with low latency and high transfer speeds.
This system works through copies of data, placed at various points in a network, in order to maximize bandwidth for access. "This investment in the Argentine market will support the global expansion plans of both current and prospective EdgeConneX customers looking to serve the region with a local solution," the company said.
"As a result, global service providers and local organizations across the region will have access to scalable data capacity with low-latency connectivity, critical content distribution solutions and advanced cloud services that were not previously available in Latin America." , indicates the provider in a description where the AWS profile fits.
Amazon's plans
According to Jeffrey Kratz, general manager for the Public Sector in Latin America, Canada and the Caribbean at AWS, edge locations recently showed an increase of up to 90% in Internet service performance.
He has also clarified that the uncertainty resulting from the October presidential elections in Argentina does not influence the election of Buenos Aires as a location for his business, while adding that AWS works with more than 7,000 governments worldwide.
"What drives us is what customers demand, not necessarily if it is an election year or not," explains Kratz. The "Edge" operation, which will be the seventh in Latin America, will start operating this year.
In March, AWS announced that Colombia would be its sixth "Edge" site. The other points are in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
The announcement is known amid speculations linked to the place in the region where the technology giant will install its next data center, which will allow local companies and governments to store information in the cloud. Chile and Argentina are the big favorites to keep this business.
AWS is a fast growing sector of Amazon's general business. In the first quarter of 2019, it reported a turnover of US $ 7.7 billion, an increase of 41 percent over the same period a year ago, accounting for almost 13 percent of Amazon's total sales. How iProUP reported in this note is the spearhead of the company's expansion in other businesses outside of e-commerce.
Jujuy, on the run
Prior to this raid, Andrés Ibarra, Deputy Chief of Cabinet and Secretary of Modernization of the National Government, identified Jujuy as the province chosen by Jeff Bezos to install his first 100% own datacenter that, unlike the Edge (which basically serve for storage ), offers much greater capacity and range of benefits.
The official pointed out that the election of this province was the result of "a very important positioning work added to its geographical and climatic benefits".
In a dialogue with iProUP, sources close to the secretariat confirmed that, in effect, "the country is more in the race" to keep the big business of the datacenters of the Bezos firm, although they avoid talking about times. Meanwhile, the province ruled by Gerardo Morales moves his chips.
Jujuy is one of the most delayed regions of the country. However, it is carrying out very concrete initiatives to become one of the great beacons of local innovation.
Carlos Alfonso, secretary of Modernization of that province, revealed to iProUP that they are working to become "the pole of datacenters in Argentina". In fact, it has a brotherhood agreement with the Chinese province of Guizhou, which is characterized by having developed the big data industry in that country.
"We had the opportunity to travel with members of the public and private sector. We have formed the Jujuy Big data committee, made up of three State representatives and three companies: Nubimetrics, USound and El Cuatro," the official added.
They toured companies that develop this technology and, after the trip, have aimed at the development of three investment focuses in Argentina: infrastructure (datacenters), human resources and software. "If Amazon is rolling its eyes on us, it is the product of a number of factors," the official said.
"In the city of La Quiaca we have a free zone of 90 hectares near to be inaugurated; moderate thermal amplitude and a temperature that is not very high. In addition, it is an earthquake resistant zone, we are far from the sea and we have renewable energy," he explained .
To this is added the draft Law on the Promotion of Investments, an initiative that aims to grant tax benefits to firms in the technology branch that are installed in the province.
Regarding the arrival of Amazon in Jujuy, the holder of the portfolio confirmed that Morales already held meetings in the United States with executives of that company and added that "there was an approach between the parties."
A story with several chapters
The installation of the first Amazon Web Services (AWS) datacenter in the southern cone will be a real achievement for the country that manages to realize it. At the local level, the approach has been constant, but so far it has not been able to translate into specific disbursements.
In mid-2017, Michael Punke, vice president of global public policy for AWS signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a year with the then Ministry of Modernization.
Strictly speaking, the firm helped train public officials in the use of cloud tools, supported the development of businesses based on this technology in Argentina and assisted the Government in its ICT modernization objectives.
It was an extremely important agreement for Change. Such is the case that Macri himself was present at the ceremony. The trip of Bezos and his ex-wife, MacKenzie Tuttle, to Patagonia only increased expectations, even if it was only for holiday reasons.
The "seduction operation" of Argentina and Chile is not only because of what Amazon represents as a brand. The package also includes US $ 1 billion for the construction of its data center and hundreds of quality jobs driven by digital transformation.
