The equipment and systems of Brazilian companies for the television industry are gaining more and more ground in our region. Now they have their eyes on Africa.
By Richard Santa
The digital television model chosen by most Latin American countries was the one developed by Japan and adapted with improvements for the region by Brazilian engineers, better known as Isdb-T. This is the most tangible example in which the importance that Brazilian engineering has had in the development of the television industry is demonstrated, achieving an increasingly leading role.
To get to the point where it is today, Brazilian engineering has counted, in addition to the creativity and dedication of its professionals, with a decisive government support for the research and development of products, as well as for the generation of companies and the promotion of exports. The main objective of the Brazilian government is for companies to generate innovative products, which differentiate them from their peers that are in the market.
This support has been in charge, among others, of the Export Promotion Agency, Apex, which during the last twelve years has led national companies to participate in international fairs in each of the segments of interest and invited entrepreneurs from different countries with which locals wish to do business, so that they know Brazil and its technologies.
Business incubator
One of the epicenters of technological development in Brazil is the municipality of Santa Rita do Sapucaí. During the last 40 years, this municipality of just over 36 thousand inhabitants has been the protagonist, since it serves as the base for 150 companies that generated their products there and that is why it has earned recognition as the Valley of electronics. In addition, it is located between the three economic and commercial centers of Brazil: Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte.
The technological development of this municipality is born from having based on three institutions of higher education: the Faculty of Administration and Informatics, FAI, the Higher Technical School of Electronics, ETE, and the National Institute of Telecommunications, Inatel. It is precisely the latter that has most marked the development of the municipality for its focus on highly specialized engineering and business creation. The institution was part of the research of the Isdb-T digital television model, in partnership with other universities, the government and private companies.
The graduates of these institutions, which cover the areas necessary for the execution of a company, have stayed in the municipality taking advantage of the benefits of government and institutions such as Inatel, through its Project Incubator program.
Carlos Emanuel Murad, representative of the program, explained that it provides the nascent company with a space to work, lends equipment and laboratories for product research and provides training in the different aspects that its managers must have knowledge.
"For a company to be part of the Incubator, it must have an innovative product or service and at least one Inatel student is part of the group. The process takes at least two years, which can be extended to three. For a company to leave it must have a financial, administrative, marketing maturity and have tested its product in the market. In total, we have the capacity for 11 companies to operate at the same time in the Project Incubator," said Carlos Emanuel Murad.
Additionally, they have the Pre-Incubator program, in which people who have an idea can participate and see the viability of their project. In this one, on which they work for nine months, 36 ideas have participated, of which only four did not continue.
Successful cases
During the 20 years of execution, the Inatel Incubator program has supported 56 companies, of which 89% are still operating and 49 of these are still based in Santa Rita do Sapucaí. These generate 2,500 jobs for the municipality.
One of the entrepreneurs benefiting from this program is the company TDSA. Its commercial manager, Ulisses Barreto, mentioned that during the two years they were in the Incubator they managed to develop a product that today is sold throughout Latin America. In addition, he stressed that one of the benefits is that all companies based in Santa Rita do Sapucaí seek to contract the additional services or products they require with the other companies in the municipality.
Another successful case is the company Ativa, dedicated to developing equipment for telemetry. Bárbara Mendes, director of customers, commented that the initial idea when they arrived at the Inatel Incubator was to design a team focused on telecommunications, but today it serves nine areas, being the alert system for heavy rains one of the best sellers. In total, today they have 3,500 fluometry equipment installed in Brazil and are looking to open a market in the region.
The work of the santa Rita do Sapucaí companies is supported by Sindvel, the Union of Electrical, Electronic and Similar Appliance Industries of the Electronics Valley, which brings together the 150 companies that are based there.
But not only in Santa Rita do Sapucaí the development of equipment that benefits the TV industry is concentrated, but also other regions have important companies that are researching and innovating in this area, such as San José dos Campos.
Telemetry and remote control systems
Based in Santa Rita do Sapucaí, TSDA is a company that since 2001 has been innovating in telemetry and remote control systems for radio, television and medicine, although its customers are 80% concentrated in the first two sectors.
Ulisses Barreto, its commercial manager, explained that the company arose after wanting to have solutions that allowed to know how the equipment was at a distance. Until then, there were only imported solutions that did not adapt well to the different situations in Latin America, such as geography, internet access and energy.
With this idea they arrived at the Inatel Project Incubator and after two years they were able to develop products that face all kinds of conditions, which today have gained an important presence in most Latin American countries.
As an anecdote, Ulisses Barreto recalls that when the first telemetry equipment was manufactured, there was no penetration of the cell phone and its network signal, which today allows the equipment to work much easier. In addition, today with digital television telemetry equipment became a necessity and the previous view that it was a luxury was changed.
Among TSDA's products, which come equipped with outputs and inputs for analog and digital signals, are integrated remote control and management software with SNMP protocol, management and telemetry software with remote control, digital signal meters and an electronic reset module, that allows the control of equipment in single-phase and biphasic electrical networks with voltage up to 277V, among other accessories to complement the systems.
Making transmitters for the world
Since 1977 the company Linear has positioned itself as an important supplier of broadcasting equipment in Brazil and has been operating since 1985 in the international market, with about 37 thousand equipment installed in 40 countries during this time.
The company, which was one of the first to be based in Santa Rita do Sapucaí and created by Inatel teachers, stands out for its training in research and development, a situation that has allowed them to launch transmitters in the ATSC digital standard in the American noterte market in mid-2000 and be pioneers in the development and production of Local n of the equipment in the ISDB-Tb standard, adopted in most Latin American countries.
Part of the 320 employees who work at the company are women. Especially in the functions related to the assembly of the equipment, because they are more delicate when working with the hands. Its equipment concentrates on transmission, retransmission, signal reinforcement, coding, multiplexing, microwave and digital radio demanded by television stations.
In 2011, Hitachi acquired 100% of linear's shares, creating a new company called Hitachi Kokusai Linear. In these three years, it has become an important headquarters for the Asian company, to the point that today it concentrates the production of all the transmitters for broadcasting that Hitachi sells to the world.
Therefore, a second headquarters is currently under construction in the same municipality, which will allow them to expand their production capacity, since this year the company will launch its first transmitters for the DVB model, developed by Europe. In addition, because Hitachi is looking to gain market in the region with its studio cameras, for which it opened a dependency in Brazil.
Solutions tailored to the client
Since its creation in 2000, the directors of the company Tecsys, based in the city of San José dos Campos, have tried to offer the best technology to their customers, providing customized solutions and meeting particular needs. This has resulted in their production lines being versatile and there is no mass production of equipment. In addition, that their staff is highly qualified, that is why they have titles in doctorates, masters, specializations, minimum they must have a technical knowledge in electronics.
Pablo Freire, industrial director of Tecsys, highlighted that they are pioneers in the development of 13 professional digital TV teams. They are able to handle projects from design to installation, including parts manufacturing. Innovation led them to develop equipment for industrial automation with nanotechnology today.
Its production plant was recently equipped with a machine that allows to automate the assembly of some parts. Given the good results of this, in August of this year a second one will be installed.
Having consolidated in its country and with some international clients, the company decided to implement an international expansion plan. The first step of this plan was to acquire a company in Israel a couple of years ago, from which it serves the market in Africa and Europe, but retaining research and development work in Brazil. The second step was taken with the appointment of engineer Carlos Henrique Ferreira, who since July took over as export manager.
Tecsys, a fully Brazilian company leader in the analog and digital Head Ends sector, has equipment installed in 90% of the main cable TV stations and operators in Brazil, with complete solutions for Encoders in DVB and ISDBT, integrated satellite receivers, MUX, ReMUX and signal processing .
Signal reception and distribution
Two million antennas per year, that is the production of the company Proelectronic, specialized in the reception and distribution of signals for the internet, cellular telephony, digital TV and pay, the latter being its main line of business.
Amauri Fernandes, export supervisor, commented that in most countries, the consumption of free-to-air television is greater than the number of pay-TV subscribers, so antennas to access digital television have been a big business for them.
He added that one of the products that is taking more strength in recent months, are the headers for RECEPTION OF TV signal and internal distribution in hotels and condominiums, which allow users to cover the needs for a small group of users.
Today the company, located in San José dos Campos, has two production plants in Brazil and concentrates its international sales efforts in Latin America, Europe and are looking to open a market in Africa, where they have had very good acceptance.
It has a portfolio of more than 150 products in the catalog, developed and improved during 22 years in the market. These include amplifiers, antennas, attenuators/blockers, connectors, dividers/combiners, remote control diplexers/extenders, modulators, racks and collective systems, among others.
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