EMC Inaugurates Big Data R&D Center in Brazil

EMC Corporation inaugurated the permanent HQs of its big data research and development center, the Richard J. and Maureen E. Egan Research Center in Brazil.

The building, located in the Rio Technology Park on Fund ã o Island in Rio de Janeiro, is part of EMC’s 2011 $100 million investment in Brazil, and will be the company’s innovation hub for the oil and gas industry.

Named for EMC co-founder Dick Egan and wife, Maureen, the center embodies the same focus that Egan drove into EMC since founding the company in 1979 – innovation on a global scale. Egan believed that interlocking with other cultures and utilizing talent from around the world would yield a culture built with an innovative mindset. The center aims to honor the Egan legacy with disruptive innovation at the global level.

EMC’s initial research focus is on the challenges faced by the oil and gas industry related to the acquisition, mobility, analysis, collaboration and visualization of the geophysical, geological, engineering and business data used through the sector’s life cycle. The center in Brazil will coordinate EMC’s worldwide activities for discovering new technologies and solutions for this industry.

Building on Fund ã o Island, which covers 35,000 square feet, has four floors and will host more than 80 researchers, and houses an Applied Research Center, Solution Development Laboratories, and an Executive Briefing Center. Space has also been allocated for developing joint research projects between EMC and its customers and partners. The building was designed to comply with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards, and includes sustainable elements in energy efficiency, water conservation and green areas.

The R&D Center, which has been operational through construction, is currently working on various projects aimed at generating innovation. Initiatives focus on data mobility, cloud computing and big data technology applications, as applied to the oil and gas industry.

Projects currently underway at the center concentrate on optimizing I/O platforms within seismic processing environments (HPC); predictive analytics technologies that integrate historical and real time data used in drilling oil wells, production and logistics operations; visualization and collaboration at extreme distance for interpretation workflows (between continents); and loss-less seismic data compression technologies. Initial results of these projects have already been converted into intellectual property registered in Brazil and the US.

Several R&D partnerships have also been established with local and multinational companies, as well as universities such as Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and Fluminense Federal University (UFF), and government entities. EMC’s R&D Center is also one of four research centers in Brazil participating in the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation‘s (MCTI) Strategic IT Software and Services Program.

The inauguration ceremony, which took place during the big data Summit in Rio de Janeiro, and included EMC executives Brian Gallagher, president of the enterprise and mid-range systems division, Joel Schwartz, SVP and GM, global new business development, and Karin Breitman, leader of EMC’s big data R&D Center in Brazil.

“The big data R&D Center reinforces EMC’s commitment to using big data to better understand areas of opportunity and generate new technologies for the oil and gas industry. Our continued investment in Brazil to develop IT solutions that can be used by a global industry will benefit our customers around the world,” said Gallagher.

“Today, EMC is seen as one of the most innovative companies in the world, with 12% of our revenue invested in new technologies annually. With the big data R&D Center, we’re taking yet another step in this journey towards positioning EMC as a prominent player in the innovation happening within the oil and gas industry,” said Schwartz.

“As we inaugurate the EMC Center on Fund ã o Island, we can now expect to discover disruptive technologies in the country. Harnessing the local talent and the union between industry and academia is fundamental to each of our projects. Surrounded by an ecosystem consisting of companies focused on oil and gas, oil field services, engineering and start-ups within the Technology Park, EMC is well positioned to offer new insight and innovation to this global industry,” says Breitman.

EMC started operations in Brazil in 1996. This was followed by manufacturing and R&D in 2008. In 2011 the company announced plans to open a new R&D Center that would focus on big data analysis for the oil and gas industry, as part of its investment of $100 million over five years in Brazil. EMC also works actively with the main Brazilian universities, 90 of which are EMC Academic Alliance partners. The company has offices in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, and other cities.