Colombia Leads in Competitivity – Notes from Andicom 2009

The world stage is always a good place to stand, if you want to be measured, analyzed or compared. In this regard, I found out a lot about Colombia at an event called Andicom 2009, held recently in Cartagena, Colombia.

This event has been held in Colombia for nearly 30 years, and it brings together telecommunications companies, government organizations, TV broadcasters and any number of other players, including more Internet Service Providers, infrastructure firms and others competing for space in the “spectrum” wars that affect all parts of Latin America and the world. At this year’s event, there were 2600 attendees, 160 media representatives and a wide variety of vendors/participants representing more than 26 countries, including France, the honorary “partner” host in this event.

As such, this particular forum is a good one to take measure of what’s happening in the Andean Region. Dr. Alvaro Uribe Vélez, the current president of Colombia, provided some of the highlights in Colombia, in his closing ceremony speech, October 30, 2009:

• World Bank research shows Colombia has moved to 37th in the world in competitivity, from a former position of 160th in the world.
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  Colombia has leaped past other big Latin American economies in this ranking, now surpassing Brazil, Mexico and Chile.
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  Colombia graduates today thousands of students in M.A. and Ph.D. programs, “on shore” as opposed to “off shore”
• 
  Colombia generates many other thousands of students earning technical or trade program degrees, through various governmental and educational organizations.
• 
  Colombia has a master plan for taking its Internet hubs from one, centralized connection (from Bogota) to a hub and spoke system that serves all major cities and their surrounding cities and towns. A project to lay fiber optic cable under the sea to connect its island provinces of San Andres and Providencia, is starting now.
• 
  New spectrums are being opened up for television, IPTV, government/security usage and private industry, based on both the country’s ongoing commitment to public safety and security (in the fights against terrorism, guerrilla violence and narco-trafficers), as well as its commitment to improving the country’s productivity and future prosperity.

While this list is not all-inclusive of the remarks made by Dr. Uribe, or other speakers at Andicom’s closing ceremony, it is a sample of the vision and the future of this Andean country, which today has a population of approximately 46 million, and a widely-diversified economy, one of the leaders in Latin America. At the same time, Dr. Uribe insisted that the world should continue to bring direct financial investment to the country, as this flow of capital, ideas and collaboration by countries, companies and individuals is a vital part of Colombia’s continued growth and drive to expand prosperity to all parts of its population. A key element of his remarks was the drive to provide social impact to all economic strata within the country through telecommunications, Internet and other “tele-services”. These services today facilitate programs and productivity in education, medicine, agriculture and many other parts of the economy.

Finally, one overriding note from Dr. Uribe’s comments was that of security and public safety. Clearly, this is underscored by the greatly-improved security situation throughout Colombia, which has worked diligently to reduce the spaces and places where the FARC and other guerrilla/narco-terrorist organizations can harm citizens and their means of earning a living.

In light of my current employer, SonicWALL’s network security expertise, and the confluence of voice/data/video and other information flowing over IP networks, such as the Internet, private PBX networks, VoIP connections, etc., it is of particular interest to note how much the current prosperity and productivity that Colombia is enjoying is a direct result of the improved security mechanisms and commitments that the Colombian government is successfully employing throughout the nation.

It makes me think that if ever companies and customers were interested in securing their own networks and VoIP transactions, and such, they would be wise to make sure that security and protective measures for all elements of their network infrastructure were in place and kept constantly up to date. Clearly, the threats that have consumed Colombian society for forty years, when reduced and isolated, as has happened during Uribe’s administration, are parallels to the damage and risk that happen to computer networks when left under- or unprotected. Security on the network is a key to productivity, just as security in a nation like Colombia is vital to productivity and prosperity and, yes, competitivity.

In sum, Andicom 2009, in Colombia last week (Oct.28-30, 2009) was an experience that underscores the vibrancy of both the Andean region and Colombia in particular, as well as the ongoing technology trends that drive productivity and prosperity in this part of the world. Let’s hope that such positive trends continue for all concerned.

© Daniel A. Cabrera, TopExec.org, All rights reserved, 2009.

To read this posting in Spanish or Portuguese, please look on these blogs:

http://sonicwallblog.blogspot.com/ (Spanish)

http://sonicwallbrasil.blogspot.com/ (Portuguese)

Presidential Security - Good Enough for You?

I recently traveled to Mexico City, in advance of Mr. Barack Obama, who arrived the next day with his entire presidential toolkit of vehicles, helicopters, Airforce One and related elements of world class travel. I was there on business, to foster the sales and marketing of my company's products with local partners and wholesalers. Mr. Obama was there to foster partnerships of a different nature, but I found some notable parallels. Bear with me as I mention a few, and how it might be worth considering for you or your company in today's menacing world of threats, spies and globalized communications and network connections.

Mr. Obama travels everywhere with a fleet of vehicles that is specially built to resist arms fire, bombs, chemical attack and who knows what else. His limousine is known as "The Beast" for its weight, girth and protective armor. He is safe from most any kind of threat while riding in this vehicle. He is, in effect, safe because of the protections provided to him in what we, at SonicWALL (my current employer), might called Unified Threat Management (UTM). By using the types of security protections that UTM offers, the president is sure to have no worries about his personal safety, when riding in the Beast.

At the same time, given Mr. Obama's penchant for staying connected to his loved ones and his inner circle via a Blackberry device, it stands to reason that he needs to be sure about his Email Security, so that no one reads his communications, nor infects them with viruses, spyware, malware or other dangerous worms that would compromise Mr. Obama's top-secret communications. This is another parallel with what SonicWALL offers --- a full suite of Email Security capabilities to protect email, which is today's most vital communications tool used by millions, if not billions of people around the world.

How about his remote connections to the White House, or to the Department of Defense data sources? How about the need for secure remote connections for his staff, the military and others, including Mr. Obama to data sources and servers that must remain off limits to all but those who are ID and Password-authorized to enter? This is where even a president would need a solution to provide SSL/VPN secure remote access capabilities from anywhere in the world to the data sources needed for day-to-day work and productivity. Notably, SonicWALL offers this, as well, and any of our customers can have presidential-quality connections this way, too.

Finally, if I'm allowed to draw the complete analogy, what does the President of the United States of America do for continuous back-up and business continuity? How does he handle it if an important speech he's working on for the Mexico City meeting or the subsequent Latin American summit in Trinidad and Tobago gets wiped out inadvertently on his PC? What happens if his hard disk gets corrupted and he loses everything, including multi-trillion dollar budget spreadsheets or top-secret secrets concerning what kind of dog his children will get? (This was a very closely-guarded secret, you know). He absolutely has to have a system that allows for a constant and seamless back-up of every creation and/or modification of data --- all words, numbers, photos, that are part of his important presidential duties. This we can provide as well, with SonicWALL's CDP product for back-up, recovery and business continuity. No missing tapes, no 13-minute blank spots (a la Richard Nixon) if you're using this type of continuous back-up technology.

So, even though my time and that of Mr. Obama was short in Mexico City, we both brought to Latin America our best arsenal of security practices. Each of us traveled with the tools needed to protect our communications, secure our connections, safeguard our email and back up our data, in case of some nefarious threat that might have compromised the free world. Each of us, I would say, arrived back in the USA, able to say, "Mission Accomplished" (apologies to George W. Bush).

Thoughts, comments or opinions? Interested in knowing more? Drop me a line or post a comment, and thanks for reading.

Other blogs of interest:

www.TopExec.org/TopExecBlog
http://sonicwallbrasil.blogspot.com/
http://sonicwallblog.blogspot.com/

©Daniel A. Cabrera, TopExec.org, all rights reserved, 2009.

Observations on Latin America and IT Evolutions

Having worked in Latin America for many years within the IT industry, I can honestly say, that much has changed. From the early days of the IBM compatible PC, to the Local Area Network (LAN) running Novell Netware, to Client/Server architecture, mainframes, databases and now, most recently “Cloud Computing” (also known as Software-as-a-Service), there have been many changes.

At the same time, it remains as important as ever, in this writer’s opinion, that Latin America gain access to and use the latest technology to leapfrog some of the challenges and disadvantages that have historically affected or slowed down the region’s progress. Even in the days of rampant software piracy (which remains a popular phenomenon today), when providers of PC software had no means other than police raids and legal lawsuits to attempt to slow down the pirates of the Caribbean and other parts of Latin America, it was always in the short-term best interest of economic and operational progress that IT solutions be brought to bear on the competitive and productive challenges present in Latin America economies. This remains true today --- for the short and long-term best interests of Latin America.

What has changed significantly in the past several years is the importance of and predominance of the connected computer and the networked user. This is probably the most important evolution in Latin America’s and the world’s use of IT solutions in the past ten years. In effect, it means that the typical user, at nearly any level of the organization, is far more productive when he or she is connected to the network and is able to fluidly interact with his or her colleagues and the critical data that moves commerce, politics, education and any number of other professions forward on a day-to-day basis. Without your network connection, your email, your web browser and your on-line data, how can you be productive and get all of your work done? This is all the more so, when companies and individuals rely on being mobile or connect via the “cloud” to complete their tasks.

But while this phenomenon of the Internet and the connected computer user is a fantastic advance for each of us, it also poses multiple risks, and cries out for companies, executives and individual users to change their habits, get educated on security risks and take the necessary precautions to protect themselves and their organizations with best practices and best technologies for securing the network, while keeping it fluid and productive for all users. This is one area where Latin America seems to understand, but prefers to go slow when it comes to getting educated and taking the steps needed to protect their networks and critical data.

Is this meant as criticism of all of Latin America? Of course not! Is it meant as an indictment of all users in region? No, certainly not! But in the greater scope of the Latin American markets that I know so well, there is an urgent need for more education and orientation as to why security solutions are required --- not just for virus attacks or spyware, common-enough threats --- but also for the more pernicious and potentially damaging effects of people (inside the company) stealing trade secrets, or competitors infiltrating company data bases, or employees bogging down the system by clogging up the bandwidth with personal IM chats, video down loads or other unauthorized use of the company’s network.

It’s also a matter of explaining in black and white (or pesos or reais or dollars) what it costs when a network is off-line for any period of time, or when important data is lost and irretrievable, or mobile workers (salesmen, inspectors, auditors, etc.) are unable to get connected securely to the home office to input their results, download critical information or upload reports, as needed.

According to an article, “Make Your Business Safe and Secure”, by Amy S. Choi, from Business Week’s Small Business magazine, too many companies are careless about protecting their data. “Data breaches cost companies an average of US$300,000 in losses a year, according to the Computer Security Institute. So if you’ve got employees working remotely, make sure they use a virtual private network (VPN) and a strong password when connecting to your network.” http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/02/0213_security/9.htm Is that something that Latin American organizations can afford to ignore?

The bottom line is that this IT Evolution that continues to move forward in Latin America and the world will constantly put stress on networks and organizations to protect them securely while keeping them fluid and operational for day-to-day productivity. The speed of these challenges, just as the vicious economic and political cycles that all of us are confronting in 2009 and beyond, is something that makes it vitally necessary for security solutions to be at the top of the list for what gets taken care of BEFORE the problem(s) arises, not afterwards. Like riding a bicycle or motorcycle, you put on the helmet before you go out to ride, not after you’ve struck your head on the pavement. This is what security solutions are all about --- preventing the damage and making sure that your network and your data are protected always, at all times, well in advance of the emergency.

How do you see your organization confronting these issues? Does your firm protect its intellectual assets vigorously? Are your users and systems protected at all times? Does your IT staff protect the company from internal threats, as well as external threats? Do you think Latin America is ahead of or behind the curve when it comes to network security? Let me know, and thanks for reading.

Note: this blog posting was written for posting in Latin America in both Spanish and Portuguese. Interested in seeing them in “local” language versions? Then, check out these blogs, when you have a chance. It won’t be long till you see this posting there, as well.

http://sonicwallblog.blogspot.com/

http://sonicwallbrasil.blogspot.com/

© Daniel A. Cabrera, SonicWALL, Inc. All rights reserved, 2009.

Caribbean Islands Suffer from U.S. Problems

It doesn't take long when you arrive in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) to pick up on the issues that affect this country of 10 million and its economy.

The first words out of the cab driver's mouth do three things: lament the demise 40+ years ago of strongman Trujillo (who ruled for 31 years and had the local currency worth more than the USD), and lament the decline in tourism (down 30%) and the decline in "remesas" (electronic wire transfers of USD from abroad), also down 30%.

In light of the world-shaking economic problems in the USA, these island nations (and there are dozens of them in the Caribbean) are struggling with how to maintain their economies. This is easily understood in light of the economic "engine" that is the USA and its 300 million consumers. When the U.S. citizenry turns down its consumption of imported goods (raw materials, finished goods, agricultural products, etc.) it has an immediate impact on export economies, large and small. Whether that is the Dominican Republic or Brazil, the results are serious and immediate.

When the lack of capital, credit, liquidity and other financial mechanisms further exacerbate this situation, and when the tourist dollars that bankroll the casinos, fill the hotel resorts and pay the cabbies their US dollar-denominated fares disappear or diminish significantly, then there is real trouble for the islands. How this plays out for U.S. exporters, especially in light of "protectionism" that seems to be the flavor of the day from the U.S. Congress, where retaliation is easily played by the other side. Note, for example, Mexico's retaliation for the U.S. violation of NAFTA rules regarding Mexican truckers being able to move goods freely between the two countries.

How is your company responding to the threat of protectionism? To downturns in your export markets' ability to buy, pay and finance their importations? What are you doing about it? Drop me a note and let me know. Thanks for reading.

© Daniel A. Cabrera, TopExec.org, All rights reserved, 2009

The Buzz from Brazil, As I See It

Having recently taken a new job that gives me responsibility for marketing high tech solutions for network security throughout Latin America, I have the chance to travel from time to time in the region. As of this writing, I am in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where I have been working for four days, interacting with multiple professionals associated with my employer's product line.

What does the world look like from Brazil, on the eve of Carnaval (which starts on Friday, February 20th and runs through Tuesday, February 24th)? Well, in the big city part of Brazil, represented by Sao Paulo, it looks reasonably good. The newspapers and TV news all report dutifully and with significant interest on the news pouring from the USA about economic crises, and multi-billion dollar solutions for the auto industry, the home mortgage meltdown and various other challenges. Brazil, meanwhile, toils away with its own share of challenges, and the government continues to commit significant purchasing power to helping its citizens deal with fallout from up north. Globalization being what it is, however, there is no escape from the forces of demand and credit drying up, all the same, as one of Brazil's premiere companies, Embraer, announced today it's laying off 20% of its workforce, due to a drop in worldwide demand for its airplane product offerings.

Additionally, the buzz in Brazil seems to be about the 30-60 day wait to buy (and receive shipment of) a new car. Even those wanting to buy a used car have a period of time to wait, due to demand outstripping supply. Restaurants appear busy, but mostly during the lunch hour, not so much at night. People seem to be complaining that money is tight, yet you can't find a ticket for entry into the Sambodromo (where Sao Paulo's Carnaval celebration is held) for less than $800 (USD).

Folks that are aligned with high-tech product offerings appear to be forging ahead with growth plans across the board. Their main concern is the fluctuation in the US$/R$ exchange rate, which causes their customers and themselves concerns about exactly how much they'll be paying to their US suppliers when the bill comes due. Nonetheless, as off-shore HQ offices tell them to gird themselves for "economically challenging" times, they respond by gearing up for more usage of technology, such as video conferencing, on-line chat and presentation services, and the security solutions that are needed to make sure business (on-line) is not interrupted by connection failures, security breaches or other QoS (Quality of Service) problems. This is a good market for my employer's offerings, and I'm happy to be engaged in serving the clients and partners that we have in Brazil.

In brief, the buzz from Brazil (at least from a "macro"cosm of the economy, like Sao Paulo) is positive, but not 100% so. It remains to be seen how deep the macro economic problems of the world at large will affect this land of extreme potential and tremendous human and natural resource potential. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading. As they say in Portuguese, "Até mais!"

© Daniel A. Cabrera, TopExec.org, All rights reserved, 2009