DigitalBridge’s (NYSE: DBRG) Scala Data Centers has appointed Agostinho Villela for the position of Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

Graduated in Electronic Engineering from the Pontifical Catholic University (PUC) of Rio de Janeiro, Villela holds the position of Distinguished Engineer (DE) at IBM.

He has over 34 years of experience in the technology industry with experience in Software Defined Networks (SDN), Internet of Things (IoT), Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Quantum Computing and 5G.

As Scale’s CTO, Villela has been tasked with leading Scala’s automation and innovation initiatives, working on four main pillars: risk mitigation, quality improvement, delivery time reduction and greater efficiency.

Marcos Peigo, co-founder and chief executive of Scale, said: “With Villela joining our executive team, we are taking an important step to have the innovation permeating the entire company in a deep and transversal way.

“We will be even more focused on bringing intelligence to the processes, services and operation of our data centers and, thus, better scaling our clients’ digital infrastructure.”

Villela was the founder of the IBM Brazil innovation garage in 2017 and the Brazil 5G Telecommunications Solutions Lab in 2020, he is also the co-author of a patent on cybersecurity (digital printing of devices) and is responsible for a patent submission on caching for assistants based on voice.

Entrepreneur and mentor at Endeavor, Cross-systems IT Specialist, and co-author of a Redbook on distributed computing programming, Villela is also a visiting professor in Rapid Innovation at Fundação Dom Cabral, having been IBM’s worldwide representative in the Telecom Infra Project (TIP), member senior at IBM Academy of Technology worldwide and IBM Quantum Ambassador.

Villela said: “We will evaluate a wide range of technological options, which may involve the use of unsupervised machine learning, predictive models to characterize and anticipate problems, computer vision to ensure the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in constructions sites and data centres, and even identifying what action people are taking.“