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News from Latin America
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July 25, 2000: 5:55 p.m. ET
Enterasys anticipates a boost in sales; Idealyze to raise $30M in two months
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NEW YORK (BNamericas.com) - Enterasys, a communications solutions provider, expects stellar sales results over the next two years, and automobile sales portal Autocosmos launches operations after merging with Autocompra.com and Autologia.com.
Also, Internet portal Idealyze plans to raise some $30 million from strategic partners within 60 days.
Enterasys forecasts increased sales
Communications solutions provider Enterasys expects the Latin American share of its total sales to increase to 15 percent from 9 percent over the next 24 months, Enterasys Brazil representative Felipe Toledo said.
The company forecasts worldwide sales for fiscal year 2000 to 2001 to total $750 million.
As a result of the company's distribution structure and pool of regional partners, Toledo expects Enterasys sales to mirror growing demand in the region, which is developing faster than any other world market.
Enterasys has offices throughout Latin America except in Central America, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Uruguay and Paraguay. The company will rely on the strength of its regional distribution network rather than establishing its own offices in these markets, Toledo said.
This month the company named former Enterasys Brazil manager Mauricio Blanco as regional vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Blanco's promotion coincided with Enterasys' launch of Mexico's first gigabit ethernet network, which has been set up for global electronics manufacturer Elcoteq. Enterasys' SmartSwitch Router family will enable Elcoteq to expand its existing network infrastructure from 1,200 to 2,000 users at its manufacturing plant in Apodaca, Nueva Leon.
Enterasys Networks is focused on providing solutions for the e-business environment of the future, including Voice-over-IP and video convergence, call center management, advanced application distribution, Web hosting and e-business control, enterprise security and VPN solutions.
Enterasys is one of four subsidiaries spun off from New Hampshire-based Cabletron systems (CS: Research, Estimates) in March.
Autocosmos closes merger, starts operations
Regional B2C automobile sales portal Autocosmos has launched operations following its merger with Argentina's Autocompra.com and Venezuela's Autologia.com, Autocosmos CEO Guillermo Dietrich said. Dietrich was formerly CEO of Autocompra.
The portal offers country-specific sites in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Poland, Uruguay and Venezuela, and is the largest automobile portal in the world, according to Dietrich.
The site offers access to various makes and models, as well as accessory sales, auto insurance and technical assistance. In the next few days Autocosmos will add an online assistance service, he said, adding that the site has signed alliances with Patagon, AOL, La Brujula, El Sitio, Shell, UOL3 and insurance company Royal & Sun Alliance.
"This alliance is going to greatly advance the growth of the company on a regional level since we are going to integrate what we have learnt in each country that we are present," Dietrich said.
"We are talking with several portals in Brazil with an aim to entering that market at the end of 2000 or the beginning of 2001," he said, adding that Autocosmos has a very aggressive expansion plan.
Idealyze to raise $30 million in 60 days
Brazilian content portal Idealyze expects to raise some $30 million from a group of strategic partners within 60 days, Idealyze president Gonzalo Fernandez said Monday. Idealyze is currently 100 percent owned by Brazilian media group Abril, but is looking for partners to boost its presence within the Latin American region, he said.
Idealyze also launched Monday its second portal, TCINet, which is modeled on the U.S. online magazine Cnet, providing news and information on technology, computing and Internet in the region. TCINet primarily targets a male readership, and aims to reach 200,000 users within one year. TCINet follows the launch one month ago of Idealyze's first portal, Paralela, targeting a female audience of some 300,000 within the first year.
"We are currently developing our third portal," Fernandez said, without revealing details. "But it will be in a similar vein, targeting a particular facet of our customers' lives." Idealyze will launch a fourth portal by year-end.
Idealyze plans to match the content needs for the different facets of any single individual with a variety of vertical portals, using one standard technology platform, Fernandez explained. The company leverages the synergies with existing Abril publications, using either their content or their access to clearly defined markets to push the various Web sites. Eventually, Idealyze will be able to use its detailed customer profiles to pursue direct marketing services, he added.
To this end, Idealyze is signing bricks & mortar companies to sponsor areas of the Web site. The company has signed four sponsors paying $1 million for a yearlong relationship with Paralela, he said, and has just signed U.S.-based e-consulting company MarchFirst as a sponsor for TCINet, he added. Other potential partners under negotiation to sponsor TCINet include a telecom operator and hardware/software manufacturer.
Idealyze has already raised $4 million to $5 million from advertising sales within Paralela, Fernandez said, claiming it was remarkable for an Internet company to generate those revenues within one month -- and the company has only sold 15 percent of available advertising space.
"We will break even by 2001, unless we decide to expand internationally," he added.
Idealyze does intend to expand into the Spanish-speaking market -- principally Argentina and Mexico -- but will only do so once it has the right local partners on board, providing either content or access to communications.
Although Idealyze's parent company, Abril, is one of the majority shareholders of Brazilian Internet access provider Universo Online (UOL), there are no conflicts of interest, according to Fernandez. "The partners [in UOL] realize there are sufficient differences in the business plans to avoid any competition," he explained. In fact, Idealyze plans to sign deals with the six major portals operating in Brazil. Negotiations with Yahoo! Brazil and Internet Group (iG) have already been closed and the remaining four are nearing completion, he said. "Idealyze will generate enough content to be able to provide a distinct package for each portal."
Idealyze spent $10 million on a core technology platform provided by Boston-based Art Technology Group (ARTG: Research, Estimates), Fernandez said. Although the company does not have any plans to begin offering its own e-commerce solutions at the moment, the platform is already fully equipped to handle transactions, he added, and can be implemented if Idealyze decides to evolve that strategy.
Source: BNamericas 
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