Ask most Americans what they know about the land just across our southern border and chances are they will tell you about out-of-control drug related violence, a governmental structure that is highly corrupted and a less than stellar physical infrastructure. As one who has spent an extended period of time in Mexico, it would be hard for me to refute any of those claims. But if recent reporting is any indicator, Mexico has an ace up their sleeve.

As Thomas Friedman reported in the New York Times, “Something happened here. It’s as if Mexicans subconsciously decided that their drug-related violence is a condition to be lived with and combated but not something to define them any longer.” Friedman continues, “Mexico has greatly increased the number of engineers and skilled laborers graduating from its schools…it is no surprise that Mexico is now taking the manufacturing market share back from Asia and attracting more global investment than ever. What struck me most…is the number of tech start-ups that are emerging from Mexico’s young population – 50 percent of the country is under 29 – thanks to cheap, open source innovation tools and cloud computing.”

And it is this innovation in cloud computing that was recently reported on by PulsoSocial, when they reported San Antonio-based Rackspace was planning an expansion into Mexico. Speaking on behalf of Rackspace was their head of Latin American Markets division, Alberto Sandoval who stated “According to Gartner, Mexico’s public cloud market is expected to grow by 25 percent from 2012 to 2017, acquiring a value of close to US $2 billion and rendering it one of the most valuable markets in Latin America.”

Rackspace was founded in 1998 and is known for their open-source operating system, OpenStack. Currently, Rackspace offers a breadth of computing solutions, including hybrid cloud offerings.

Sandoval continued, “Businesses in Latin America and Mexico are opting for private, public and hybrid combinations of the cloud to resolve their current and future infrastructure needs due to flexibility, accessibility and low cost of the cloud.”

In other published reports, a comparison of the powerhouse that is Brazil and our southern neighbors was made. In his article, Stephen Keppel wrote that because of Mexico’s proximity and recent legislation, they have effectively positioned themselves as the de facto leader for the region’s tech revolution.