Brazil News
| SAO PAULO – Microsoft Corp said on Tuesday that it commenced operations at the newest Microsoft Technology Center (MTC), this time in Brazil. In an event in Sao Paulo, the company that invented the Windows operating system opened the 1,300 square meter (14,000 square foot) center in the city's United Nations Tower. The site includes a simulation center for technology partners, corporate clients, NGOs and students.
United Nations Tower Sao Paulo (Photo: skyscrapercity.com)
Visitors can test MTC solutions for distance communication, monitoring rooms and multimedia conferencing environments – all equipped with Microsoft software – in the company's labs. The focus is on companies of various sizes, including start-ups which will receive special encouragement.
During the inauguration, the company demonstrated ProDeaf, a new software package designed to translate text and phrases (from voice commands) to sign language. The goal is to improve communication with hearing people so that the hearing impaired can more effectively communicate. Currently working on smartphones, the system can be integrated with Microsoft platforms like Skype or even Kinect which uses motion sensing to “read” gestures.
According to Microsoft, this is the 17th center to promote the company's technology and information outside the United States. The Sao Paulo MTC is the largest in Latin America and the second to be opened in the region, the first opened in Mexico in 2011. Five other cities in Brazil will receive an MTC, three of them have already been selected: Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and Recife. In Rio, the MTC will be part of the Marvelous Port project.
The Microsoft commitment to Brazil
At the inauguration, Microsoft signed a letter of understanding with the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, committing to the creation of six technology incubators to stimulate innovation in the country.
The idea, according to the director of innovation at Microsoft, Paul Iudicibus, is that “each of the six incubators will take care of at least ten start-ups.” The sectors that will receive the most attention are health, education, oil and gas, and gaming.
The U.S. software giant still has a separate development program for small businesses, BizSpark, which has more than two thousand Brazilian start-ups enrolled.
Microsoft invests U.S. $10 million in the Sao Paulo MTC
In total, there are 700 terabytes of data center capacity in the new MTC, which is available for software simulations, along with 360 high-powered processors.
The total investment in the Sao Paulo MTC was $10 million dollars and includes the participation of 15 partners including AMD, Dell, Intel, HP and Nokia – who see the initiative as an opportunity to demonstrate their solutions to the integrated Microsoft platform.
“Our idea is to strengthen the structure and the presence of Microsoft in the country” says Michael Levy, president of Microsoft in Brazil. “Let the country take advantage of the policy instruments at Microsoft to create new opportunities.”
Microsoft Brazil has 14 offices in Brazil and is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions in information technology.
Read also: More Articles from Brazil Dispatch
Source(s) for this article: O Globo
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