Logicalis is investing $1m in an attempt to gain a foothold in emerging South American markets. New offices are being opened by the business IT provider in Lima and Santiago.

The news comes on the back of recent efforts to build vendor partnershps in the region. Its relationship with Cisco is a keystone of the plan.

Logicalis expects Cisco's expected growth in South America to fuel a 7-fold revenue hike in Chile and Peru by the end of its fiscal 2008.

Logicalis Group chief executive, Jens Montanana said: "Our goal is to be the partner of choice for advanced technology vendors and users in South America and to achieve this we will focus our offices in Chile and Peru particularly on IPT (IP telephony) market - where we intend to be the number one provider in the market growing at 100 per cent a year."

The new tentacle will have 14 staff. Logicalis currently employs around 1,000 people worldwide. ®