Frequently asked questions: setting up IT in Brazil

Internet links with redundancy, telephony, network and Wi-Fi, security, a cloud or data center decision, LGPD compliance and contracts with local vendors, all ready and tested before day one. See IT setup in Brazil.

It depends on each carrier’s technical availability at the address. Where the carrier already has a network, it is faster. Where it must build the last mile, it takes longer. Start the availability check as early as possible, ideally before signing the lease.

Brazil has large national carriers and a wide range of regional providers. Which ones serve your address, and how well they support it, varies by city and even by street. The right choice comes from availability checks at each site and references from people who have worked with them.

Business contracts with Brazilian carriers and vendors are usually signed by a company registered in Brazil, with a CNPJ (the Brazilian company tax ID). Plan for it early, because it affects when contracts can be signed.

You can, but telecom equipment such as routers and Wi-Fi access points must be certified by Anatel, Brazil’s telecom regulator, and imports have their own procedures and lead times. Buying from local distributors is often faster.

Yes. LGPD applies to anyone who processes personal data collected in Brazil, regardless of where the company is headquartered. IT needs proper access control, logging and security, plus care with transfers of data abroad. Legal aspects should be handled with a Brazilian lawyer.

Site surveys, activations and following up with vendors move faster with someone present who knows the local market and speaks Portuguese. It also gives headquarters a single point of contact.

James Eustachio is an IT and telecom infrastructure consultant and project manager in Brazil, with 32 years of experience since 1994. He has worked in operations (Fiat, Oi, Magnesita, Biomedical), on the vendor side (IBM, Century) and as a founder (Fargotech).

I work on a project basis, as an independent contractor. After a first conversation, I define the scope and send a proposal. Every project starts with an assessment and ends with the environment delivered and documented.

Both, depending on the project, in Brazil and abroad.

Portuguese (native). English and Italian: advanced reading and writing, intermediate conversation.

No. I support your team on a specific project, coordinate local vendors and hand over a documented environment.

It depends on what the assessment finds. I do not promise a percentage before reviewing invoices and contracts. The assessment shows what can be cut or renegotiated and what that is worth in your case.

RPO is how much data the company can afford to lose in a failure. RTO is how long it can afford to be down. Both should be set by management, because they drive the architecture and cost of the infrastructure.

Two data centers running at the same time and in sync, each able to take over the other’s load. It is the architecture that allows zero RPO and RTO, as in the CCPR/Itambé IT spin-off.

Usually, when there are several sites, more than one link per site and critical applications. For a few sites with simple needs, it may not pay off.