BNamericas.com - 21/10/2003

Chilean storage software company Gemelo Storage Solutions expects to double its revenues in 2004 after receiving an investment from Intel Corp's (Nasdaq: INTC) venture capital arm Intel Capital, Gemelo chief executive Nicolas Barry told reporters.

Barry and Intel Capital Chile manager Michael Aleles did not reveal the volume and terms of the investment, but Aleles said it was Intel's sixth agreement in Latin America this year, and the second in Chile.

Part of the financing will be used to incorporate Intel server platforms into Gemelo's e-business systems, Barry said. "We are going to produce our solutions with Intel server platforms," he said. Barry declined to disclose Gemelo's revenues.

Founded in Chile three years ago, Gemelo has subsidiaries in Brazil and Mexico, offices in Venezuela and distribution partners in Spain, Barry said, adding the company plans to sign up partners in Argentina and Portugal in the near future.

Gemelo started out serving its companies directly, but as it has grown the company has adopted partners across the region, even in Chile, the company's chief marketing officer Maria Teresa Macia said. Because of an expanding number of customers, Gemelo cannot deal directly with each one, while local partners can better tailor the software, she explained.

The company sees the most opportunity for growth next year in Argentina, where the market is under-explored, and in Spain, where the market for storage solutions is large, he said.

In general, penetration of these products in Latin America is way behind the US, where about 15% of companies back up their software. But companies in the region need storage and backup solutions, he said, as Gemelo studies show that an estimated 80% of a company's information is located in its employees' workstations.

According to Barry, Gemelo's solutions are cheaper and easier to use than those of its competing firms such as the US storage and security software giant Veritas.

"Veritas has solutions that are similar to ours. However, our solutions are very economical, and can be used by any company, whether small, medium or large. They are very easy to use, in that they are very simple and intuitive," he said.