BT expands cloud, IT security services in Colombia

BT (NYSE: BT) on Tuesday unveiled a series of cloud and security service initiatives targeting the Latin American market, particularly Colombia.

These initiatives are set on not only serving global companies that are growing their presence in the country, but also Colombian businesses are expanding internationally and need a player that can get them to more locations like BT Global.

On the security services side, BT Global launched two products: Assure Secure Web and Assure Managed Firewall.

Designed for multisite enterprises in any sector, Assure Secure Web gives customers controlled Internet access, but also enables a company to enforce their specific security rules and improve the overall user experience.

Protecting a company's private network at the point it meets the public Internet, Assure Managed Firewall enforces security policy with controlled access from the Internet based on a customer's own specifications. Because the service provides centralized policy management and reporting and regulatory compliance, the service would likely appeal to the financial and health care industry mandates like HIPPA.

"We have launched a managed security solution so our global customers who are operating here or domestic customers can benefit from the capabilities we have in security," said Luis Alvarez, President EMEA and Latin America for BT Global Services, in an interview with FierceTelecom. "We can protect them from cyber attacks and also managed firewall so their networks are protected."

Complementing the new security services are two new data center services--BT Cloud Compute and BT Private Compute. Initially available in Brazil and Colombia, with plans to roll out the service in Mexico later this year, customers can have a new source for storage and computing capacity.

With Cloud Compute, customers can deploy services on a pay-as-you-go basis via an online portal, while BT Private Compute can consolidate these services onto single platform. It can also offer a mix of the Cloud Compute and Private Compute services.

Thus far, BT Global provides its cloud services to Latin American customers out of four data centers located Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. Interestingly, BT added a center of excellence for data center services and security management in their Bogota, Colombia center, which includes specialists developing new products and supporting other teams throughout Latin America.

Alvarez said that already BT has had some "conversations with some of our customers who are considering the use of cloud services because they're expanding their businesses in the region."

One customer that's already taking advantage of the new data center and satellite services is Ecopetrol, Latin America's fourth largest oil company.

To support these new services, BT Global has deployed up to 23 MPLS ports that will give them presence in 15 Colombia cities and build out an additional 550 square meters of data center space. They are also providing Ethernet connectivity to their customers.

In addition, BT Global has doubled its professional service workforce to over 200 employees.  

Following Asia Pacific and Europe, Latin America has become an emerging growth target for BT Global Services. Last October, the service provider announced a number of a number of new investments that it believes will double its business in the region's key countries by 2014.

For more:
- here's the security release
- see the cloud services release

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